Guild Wars 2

I think the main problem with this fight is that it is not an interesting one. I did it earlier today. And discussed it with some guild mates. One of them finished it before any patch, another member just finished it minutes before we talked about it. We think the fight is doable with 5 to 10 deaths. We are all very experienced players, some of us even complete raids (not my thing). I think we are amongst the better players in the game (top 10% I guess). I think a story instance where experienced players die 5 to 10 times is too difficult.

None of us liked the fight. The room is too small to do anything interesting. It is basically a matter of throwing a lot of bloodstone fragments to the boss and to the mobs. And you do that for 15 minutes, die a few times and then you finish it. Was it fun? No. Will we do it again? Probably not, unless we need to help a friend or guild member.

At least it worked (I am looking at some boss fights in S2 that where bugged half of the time). I didn’t hear anyone in my guild about bugs in this fight. But I really hope ArenaNet is going to make more interesting boss fight. The boss fight in the previous episode wasn’t great either.

Rose Solane.1027:

I think the main problem with this fight is that it is not an interesting one.

Won’t argue against that.

Rose Solane.1027:

We think the fight is doable with 5 to 10 deaths. We are all very experienced players, some of us even complete raids (not my thing). I think we are amongst the better players in the game (top 10% I guess). I think a story instance where experienced players die 5 to 10 times is too difficult.

So you say you’re probably among the top 10% in this game, and yet you on average die 5-10 times in this encounter. I mean – really?

OGDeadHead.8326:

Don’t run a too glassy build here if you’re not 100% comfortable with it, and you should all be good to go really.

You know what’s the problem with that? You only learn that 15-20 minutes into the instance.

OGDeadHead.8326:

So you say you’re probably among the top 10% in this game, and yet you on average die 5-10 times in this encounter. I mean – really?

For comparison, from the perspective of a zerker elementalist with 11k health, I never died pre-nerf. I actually found it easier because it was 1 jade bow that I could ignore (stands off to the side and aggro’d on the NPCs) instead of a group of adds (going all over). Post-nerf, I wanted to see what the fuss was about so I tried to do it more casually, essentially just zerking it down. I died once to a mix of the adds and a bloodstone explosion. Turns out it’s not a good idea to stand near the NPCs, as the bloodstone the boss throws seems to explode into an AoE, which takes out like 60% of my health.

I think the encounter only took like 4 minutes and was pretty much: AoE adds > blow shield > zerk boss > adds > blow shield > zerk boss > done. I watched a post-nerf video that had a jade armor, but I’m guessing I finished before that.

The room is still too small, the camera angles suck. The barrels end up helping to keep you locked down because you can’t scramble around them fast enough if you get knocked into them. The time between being targeted For C’s special attack and his attack is far too short—people with really fast reactions might be able to dodge, but more often than not by the time you can react, he has hit you. Kiting around is not fun.

At least the subsequent tries, I knew about the room spin, and took some anti-nausea meds first. Honestly, who puts that sort of visual in a small encounter space. I just about vomited the first time. I just let myself die that time and logged out.

One thing I found – with me dying constantly – was that Demi, Anise, and Cannach all do quite a bit of damage themselves and are really durable – so even if you die, you can still sort of wait for them to grind the boss down for you.

That said, the boss mechanics and the toughness and the constant one-shot deaths are not the biggest problem.

The biggest problem is all the armor damage you accumulate in this instance – to the point that you start losing pieces of gear.

PUT AN ANVIL IN THE BARN!

It really needs to happen.

draxynnic.3719:

DiogoSilva.7089:

Sometimes you can’t even use the special skill because your character us at the middle of another animation, and then you’ll die.

Maybe it’s just me, but from what I’ve observed, using the special skill against Caudecus’ charge appears to be instant activation.

Darknicrofia.2604:

you’re not suppose to actually use the blast, use its passive for the health leech.

Gotta admit, I didn’t know there WAS one. Will have to look into that. I think it’s still useful to use the blast if there’s an enemy on low health, though: giving Spectral Agony to adds is often an effective way to get back on your feet.

the passive effect is you leech like 1k health per attack in down state, the active effect is completely useless compared to it.

The Jade construct is the only problem in the fight.

The jade constructs should be removed entirely but that’s about it.

Boss is manageable and the other adds as well.

It’s when the boss is attacking you at the same time the jade construct is that it becomes a problem.

I had a very fun time with this fight but I was on quite a resilient character, not a glass cannon type.

The whole instance does seem to demand a well balanced character and maybe people are running too much on the DPS side.

Zenith.7301:

The Jade construct is the only problem in the fight.

The jade constructs should be removed entirely but that’s about it.

Boss is manageable and the other adds as well.

It’s when the boss is attacking you at the same time the jade construct is that it becomes a problem.

Yup. I had the fight well managed until the last 1/4 of the fight or so. That’s when the Jade Knockback Construct showed up. It might have gone better if they weren’t doing CC every 5 seconds and would actually take CC skills themselves, but nope, they have to be obnoxiously resistant to everything while spamming disables.

Just took on this fight with a dual-pistol Daredevil and had no trouble. I was downed once in the living room fight but the second fight was easy. Chuck shards and dodge stuff, gg.

I pretty much run a hybrid pistol + shield engi (leans on condi). I can understand why peeps will struggle on this boss fight. As the room is small and there are dozens of aoe and cc flying at you, with adds coming to give you more of a headache. Not to mention the camera, oh boy.
However I pretty much soloed this boss with a lot of perserverance with some annoyance. I’m not the best engi player, heck not even a pro; just your average to below average casual player.

If peeps are struggling, lfg is a major help. I helped a group right after I completed my story. The difference is there. The fight went quicker and smoother. When soloing it’s a slug fest.

Is the consensus that without the Counter Magic special skill this fight is unwinnable?

I, too, only recently got HOT and have not unlocked any special skills yet.

I got to C once pre-nerf on my Mesmer and gave up after being repeatedly one-shot in my skivvies (I forgot about the 17 repair canisters in the bank).

If the special skill is required, I’m not going to waste my time again until I can get it.

Sarpan.9074:

Is the consensus that without the Counter Magic special skill this fight is unwinnable?

I, too, only recently got HOT and have not unlocked any special skills yet.

I got to C once pre-nerf on my Mesmer and gave up after being repeatedly one-shot in my skivvies (I forgot about the 17 repair canisters in the bank).

If the special skill is required, I’m not going to waste my time again until I can get it.

It isn’t required, but it is tedious without it. Expect many more deaths but you can absolutely brute force through it with enough time. I was 100% naked by the time I beat the fight.

Moonyeti.3296:

Sarpan.9074:

Is the consensus that without the Counter Magic special skill this fight is unwinnable?

I, too, only recently got HOT and have not unlocked any special skills yet.

I got to C once pre-nerf on my Mesmer and gave up after being repeatedly one-shot in my skivvies (I forgot about the 17 repair canisters in the bank).

If the special skill is required, I’m not going to waste my time again until I can get it.

It isn’t required, but it is tedious without it. Expect many more deaths but you can absolutely brute force through it with enough time. I was 100% naked by the time I beat the fight.

Yeah, the fight isn’t realistically doable without the special skill. If you’re trying to do the fight without it, you’re going to have to either raw brute force it or party with someone that has the skill.

Sarpan.9074:

Is the consensus that without the Counter Magic special skill this fight is unwinnable?

I, too, only recently got HOT and have not unlocked any special skills yet.

I got to C once pre-nerf on my Mesmer and gave up after being repeatedly one-shot in my skivvies (I forgot about the 17 repair canisters in the bank).

If the special skill is required, I’m not going to waste my time again until I can get it.

No, if you read my comments – I won the Caudecus fight without the counter skill. I died to the point that all my equipment was ready to break, but I downed Caudecus.

Then I went upstairs to complete the letters acheivement, and my computer DC-ed on me, leaving me literally head-desking.

It’s possible, but you either have to use repair cannisters – a gemstore item – or wind up pretty much naked by the end of the fight.

And it’s a horribly not-fun experience without that skill.

Thanks for the responses. Looks like I’m off to do Episode 1, which I was planning on going back and doing it eventually, but it’s kind of annoying I have to go do it now if I don’t want to experience high levels of frustration (again).

Edit: Yeah, I was all nekked when I gave up, too. I got close, but the repeatedly being one-shotted just got tedious.

Edit 2:
I know there are folk who say that this fight was not a big problem for them, and I’m happy for them. I’ve never raided or done dungeons in GW2 and this is the first LS I’ve participated in. Just recently got HOT and haven’t really done much of its content yet. I thought it was just my inexperience that made Caudecus so difficult. I’m relieved to hear it’s not just me.

Sarpan.9074:

Is the consensus that without the Counter Magic special skill this fight is unwinnable?

It can be done without it. Caud’s skill is only a knockback, so with proper positioning you can weather it easily. You’ll probably still end up taking otherwise avoidable damage from the second phase, but it’s manageable.

I really don’t understand the issue people are having with this. I wasn’t joking when I said my mother killed it without dying, and I killed it pre-nerf without dying.

That’s nice.

So you must be a better player than me.

And I really don’t care.

Just got done with the fight and I can say without exaggeration that this was the least fun fight I’ve had in the entirety of GW2. And probably the most frustrating.

The room is far too small. You spend the whole time fighting the camera. The AoEs are just chaos. I have a computer that handles giant zerg battles on max settings with zero issue, and it could not handle this fight. That’s how much random, simultaneous sparkly nonsense is going on every second. There’s simply too much happening at once. I must have cried “I can’t even!” twenty times. I can’t attack and dodge and heal and watch the floor and adds I can’t even see and the boss and hit that counter magic button all at the same time.

And the knockdowns are absurd. The half of the fight I didn’t spend desperately healing I spent on the ground. I’m getting knocked down every five seconds and I can’t even see what’s doing it most of the time because I’m trying to look at six other things. Then you bring in a jade armor, and it’s like putting a grenade in a blender. I don’t have the space or the camera or the time to deal with this.

The fight is not fun. I feel like half the issues would be solved just by making the room larger.

OK, so I tried solo-ing Caudecus one last time last night on my staff Ele.

I took the advice about running Earth attunement for toughness and Water for healing, and Fire only when I want to burn stuff down fast. There wasn’t much change from before. I died about 30% less than before, but I still died rapidly to sharpshooter trash mobs in the explosives room, repeatedly to the Jade Bow, and took multiple deaths from the Veteran Hound and Veteran Sharpshooter. I was dodging, using shields, healing, summoning Rock Golem… didn’t matter. I was being pasted in five seconds flat by all kinds of stuff. By the time I reached Caudecus fireplace room in his house, all my equipment was damaged.

I started the Caudecus fight and stayed alive a while, but when he targeted me, I had no “Counter Magic” skill unlocked – so he’d knock me flat on my back. I took multiple deaths, my equipment started breaking. By the time the FIRST Caudecus fight was over, I was half naked.

I decided “screw it” and entered the portal anyway. It was there I realized the REAL Caudecus fight everyone has been complaining about that I hadn’t even gotten to yet.

This fight was ridiculous. I ran the room in a circular pattern in Earth Attunement grabbing Bloodstone and chucking it at Caudecus. He’d jump on me and target me with something and I’d get knocked down an killed. I didn’t even have a chance. I was literally being one-shot. I’d be up for five seconds and then BOOM – dead in one second. Restart from checkpoint, through the portal, try furiously to dodge and BOOM – dead in one second. Restart from checkpoint, portal to the room, this time manage to stay alive for five or ten seconds – BOOM – one-shot again. I wasn’t even going into downed-state. I was just getting knocked out dead and offered the option of restarting.

It was the most miserable experience I’ve ever had in this game. I think I died thirty times before complaining in guild chat – whereupon two of my experienced guildmates (veterans of the game) kindly offered to help me out.

They told me to invite them to group, then log out and repair and restart the story instance.

Night and day difference. I have no clue what they were doing, but they were burning the Jade Bow down FAST. Same with the Hound and the mobs and all of it.

When people come on to this thread and report “gee, I had no trouble with this instance” I believe them. They probably know something I don’t about breakbar management, dodging, patterns, stability, buffs and who knows what else.

I try to dodge, I try to use one or two breakbar skills, I try to use my shielding ability, I went on Dulfy and copied a staff Ele build. I got all my equipment to exotic level, made sure it was all Berserkers, and made sure to put good gold level power-boosting runes on all my gear (matching of course). I did my homework, I’m not an idiot.

But… I’m obviously not anywhere near the level of some of the really good players in this game. I don’t know… maybe their ascended gear made a difference. Maybe having the “Counter Magic” skill would have made a big difference… But I was even dying instantly to trash mobs.

I’m super grateful to my guildmates for helping me out and downing this chapter. But at the same time, it was an incredibly demoralizing experience.

Counter Magic is huge. I have Special Action bound to Q so it is right next to my weapon skills. The moment I hear the bleep-BLOOP I tap it. I haven’t been able to mouse over it to have any idea exactly what it’s doing against the Jades and Caudecus, but at least with Caudecus it seems to teleport him to me in a stunned state (hint — start the fight standing under the chandelier, your first or second use of Special Action should achieve the chandelier drop). And I don’t get knocked around if I hit it in time.

I also had the insta-death thing going during the final fight on my first run, on a Daredevil before the nerf. I imagine Ele would be even squishier. Reaper (with Druid backup) just sails through it, I had no problems at all the second time even before the nerf and I hadn’t magically improved my skills in one day. So don’t feel you’re megabad, Irensaga. Profession and build are huge factors in this fight. — and, reading a bit more in detail, I note that you were in Berserker gear. That is probably the biggest issue right there. Berserker is a glass cannon, designed to max your dps at the cost of minimizing your defense. It requires you to be good at avoiding/absorbing hits and keeping focus on your target, which in that confined space is extra hard. One reason my Reaper did well both her times in there (pre and post nerf) is she is quite tanky and has a failsafe trait that tosses her automatically into shroud if she takes a killing blow.

Thanks for the observations.

I went for Berserkers, because that’s what just about everyone on the forums and YouTube says you should go for.

But… now that I think about it… aren’t they just saying that because they are min-maxing for ultimate damage output and speed-clears on Fractale content?

It makes me wonder if maybe I shouldn’t be going for a different set of stats. Maybe “Knights” or “Valkyrie”…

My second character doing the fight (solo) had a much easier time. Ranger with marauder gear, I had little difficulty staying upright. I went down once, didn’t die at all.

The one thing causing me trouble when I did it the first time were the adds, the Jade Bow most of all. Avoiding its cc attacks was a matter of luck because I couldn’t see them coming. The problem with being cc-ed once is that you’re very likely to get a few more helpings of cc before you’re back in control. That’s not a real problem anymore because without the jade, it’s much easier to avoid being cc-ed at all.

With my second character, I noticed that adds always showed up while I was busy throwing bloodstone at Caudecus. I just stopped doing that, and killed the adds before breaking Caudecus’ bar. That way, I was free to heap all the DPS I could on Caudecus without anything interfering. There’s a lot of time to do that before his shield goes up again, and making the best possible use of that time really cuts down on the number of times you need to break him, which in turn minimizes the number of adds you need to deal with.

Going to try a mesmer next. My squishiest character by far.

Irensaga.6935:

Thanks for the observations.

I went for Berserkers, because that’s what just about everyone on the forums and YouTube says you should go for.

But… now that I think about it… aren’t they just saying that because they are min-maxing for ultimate damage output and speed-clears on Fractale content?

It makes me wonder if maybe I shouldn’t be going for a different set of stats. Maybe “Knights” or “Valkyrie”…

So essentially all your complaints about being instakilled are because of counter magic. If you don’t use that skill, he does a massive attack on you, and it’s not avoidable by any means whatsoever. Go get that unlocked, bind your special action key to a good button, and then try the fight again. I’m extremely curious to find out how you do at that point.

Also, for ele as you have one of the lowest base health pools some mix of Soldier gear and berserkers should do just fine to survive. If not go full soldiers. Power Vitality Toughness, it’s good for people who are still learning the timings for dodges and blocks. Because it gives you some buffer to play with

Fay.2357:

Irensaga.6935:

Thanks for the observations.

I went for Berserkers, because that’s what just about everyone on the forums and YouTube says you should go for.

But… now that I think about it… aren’t they just saying that because they are min-maxing for ultimate damage output and speed-clears on Fractale content?

It makes me wonder if maybe I shouldn’t be going for a different set of stats. Maybe “Knights” or “Valkyrie”…

So essentially all your complaints about being instakilled are because of counter magic. If you don’t use that skill, he does a massive attack on you, and it’s not avoidable by any means whatsoever. Go get that unlocked, bind your special action key to a good button, and then try the fight again. I’m extremely curious to find out how you do at that point.

No, like I said – even the sniper trash mobs were mopping the floor with me. It wasn’t just Counter Magic.

Also, I was asking for an anvil in the barn to repair armor. Caudecus is hard when all your armor is broken.

I have secret footage form the design meeting of the Cadecus Fight

(A-Net love you guys and not hating just cracking a little Joke)

Manasa Devi.7958:

Going to try a mesmer next. My squishiest character by far.

Quoting myself here. Just finished with the mesmer. Didn’t go down once.

I learned something new about the fight. The spinning walls! I never noticed before because I desperately tried to ignore the awful spinning, but this time around, feeling more relaxed because of prior experience, I noticed that the adds spawn when the walls stop spinning. Earlier, I just spotted the adds when I came across them while running circles around Caudecus. I never connected them with the spinning walls. Now, I knew when to look for them, which gave me a useful edge. Two times, I managed to be on top of them while they entered the room, killing them fast.

In conclusion, I don’t think the fight is all that hard when you know what’s coming. Take your time with the bar breaking, prioritize avoiding being knocked all over the place. Take down adds quickly. Only throw bloodstone when it feels like a safe moment to do so. Burn phases are easy enough when you don’t miss the special skill.

dusanyu.4057:

I have secret footage form the design meeting of the Caudecus Fight

(A-Net love you guys and not hating just cracking a little Joke)

I sense in accuracy.

Meme-maker spelled “crowd control” as AOE. :P

(I love the ANet folks, but yeah, the CC fetish has been out of control for years. :|)

Irensaga.6935:

Fay.2357:

Irensaga.6935:

Thanks for the observations.

I went for Berserkers, because that’s what just about everyone on the forums and YouTube says you should go for.

But… now that I think about it… aren’t they just saying that because they are min-maxing for ultimate damage output and speed-clears on Fractale content?

It makes me wonder if maybe I shouldn’t be going for a different set of stats. Maybe “Knights” or “Valkyrie”…

So essentially all your complaints about being instakilled are because of counter magic. If you don’t use that skill, he does a massive attack on you, and it’s not avoidable by any means whatsoever. Go get that unlocked, bind your special action key to a good button, and then try the fight again. I’m extremely curious to find out how you do at that point.

No, like I said – even the sniper trash mobs were mopping the floor with me. It wasn’t just Counter Magic.

Also, I was asking for an anvil in the barn to repair armor. Caudecus is hard when all your armor is broken.

Idk, that just seems like such an odd complaint. Were you mostly having trouble with the first phase or the second phase?

The fastest and easiest solution is to group up with a party, just like at the end of HoT. Makes this fight a piece of cake.

Manasa Devi.7958:

My second character doing the fight (solo) had a much easier time. Ranger with marauder gear

You don’t need Marauder gear as a ranger, you have enough HP. This fight is easy to do for any ranger with a Berserker or Viper build.

Weli.4568:

I imagine this was aimed at me, I’m not saying everyone should be super pro hardcore player. It’s just that what’s the point of having end boss fight if you can kill it easily like any regular mob.

Just curious: you don’t think that there is some kind of scale between “super pro hardcore” difficult and “kill it easily like any regular mob”? It’s either one or the other, right?

And everyone who likes a challenging fight is ok with their challenge = many players never get to play out the end of THEIR STORY, right? You can’t get your challenge in other areas of the game, you must demand it even in the Story episodes at the expense of other players, right?

Ashantara.8731:

Manasa Devi.7958:

My second character doing the fight (solo) had a much easier time. Ranger with marauder gear

You don’t need Marauder gear as a ranger, you have enough HP. This fight is easy to do for any ranger with a Berserker or Viper build.

All of my characters have a single set of equipment. If I want a new build, I make a new character. I have a lot of characters. I have a berserker ranger, but nowhere near that point in the personal story. I have a high health ranger (marauder) because it fares better in situations of extreme condition damage overload. Also, my berserker ranger is a tall norn, and I find the Manor’s ceilings and passages annoying even on small characters. I wouldn’t dream of taking a tall norn in there.

Please keep the “zerker is the only build” platitudes out of this topic. I have no interest in anyone’s take on what works and what doesn’t. That’s why I don’t read or post in such topics. This one is about the particulars of the Caudecus fight. Thank you.

Manasa Devi.7958:

Please keep the “zerker is the only build” platitudes out of this topic. I have no interest in anyone’s take on what works and what doesn’t. That’s why I don’t read or post in such topics. This one is about the particulars of the Caudecus fight. Thank you.

1. I never said “Berserker only” (facepalm), please read more carefully what people write before judging their statements.

2. I played the instance with a Viper Ranger and it was easy. Ranger certainly is no class that requires extra health as it has enough as it is (much more than some other professions), for this encounter or any other. Dealing more damage (raw dmg or condition dmg) therefore is preferable.

3. Yes, it is about the Caudecus fight, and I was trying to tell people not to listen to this “extra health” nonsense (and waste gold on new gear to follow your example, thinking that it was the solution). This is my opinion and I am entitled to it, no?

Who said anything about extra health? Certainly not I. I wrote a post of 219 words. Two of them were “marauder gear”, which I added to provide context, not in advocacy of anything.

And that’s the only part you saw fit to react to, bringing up the “extra health” nonsense all by yourself. There was none of that in the post you quoted from. I gave a run down of my experiences with the fight. That was the substance of my post. Not the 0.91% of it that said “marauder gear”. And ironically, you’re telling me to carefully read. “Facepalm” indeed.

Irensaga.6935:

No, like I said – even the sniper trash mobs were mopping the floor with me. It wasn’t just Counter Magic.

Also, I was asking for an anvil in the barn to repair armor. Caudecus is hard when all your armor is broken.

I found that sniper were mostly a problem because they can shoot in their back. You cannot position yourself to avoid their hits. Which, imo is very stupid. You have to either block, absorb, reflect, or CC them.

Fay.2357:

Irensaga.6935:

Fay.2357:

Irensaga.6935:

Thanks for the observations.

I went for Berserkers, because that’s what just about everyone on the forums and YouTube says you should go for.

But… now that I think about it… aren’t they just saying that because they are min-maxing for ultimate damage output and speed-clears on Fractale content?

It makes me wonder if maybe I shouldn’t be going for a different set of stats. Maybe “Knights” or “Valkyrie”…

So essentially all your complaints about being instakilled are because of counter magic. If you don’t use that skill, he does a massive attack on you, and it’s not avoidable by any means whatsoever. Go get that unlocked, bind your special action key to a good button, and then try the fight again. I’m extremely curious to find out how you do at that point.

No, like I said – even the sniper trash mobs were mopping the floor with me. It wasn’t just Counter Magic.

Also, I was asking for an anvil in the barn to repair armor. Caudecus is hard when all your armor is broken.

Idk, that just seems like such an odd complaint. Were you mostly having trouble with the first phase or the second phase?

I had trouble with all of it. If you read my earliest comments on this thread, I detail it. Usually by the time I got to first-phase Caudecus in the fireplace room, all my equipment was damaged from dying repeatedly. Caudecus usually managed to break all my armor completely by the time he went down. So I went into Caudecus phase 2 pretty much naked.

That’s why I said they need to put an anvil in the barn – for scrubs like me who just want to complete the story, but aren’t CC, dodging, mechanics-savvy, survival masters like apparently a lot of other people here are.

The average player just cannot complete the story !

In GW1 you had the option of selecting normal mode and hard mode. It at least provided payers with an option to play at the level they wanted

Irensaga.6935:

Fay.2357:

Irensaga.6935:

Fay.2357:

Irensaga.6935:

Thanks for the observations.

I went for Berserkers, because that’s what just about everyone on the forums and YouTube says you should go for.

But… now that I think about it… aren’t they just saying that because they are min-maxing for ultimate damage output and speed-clears on Fractale content?

It makes me wonder if maybe I shouldn’t be going for a different set of stats. Maybe “Knights” or “Valkyrie”…

So essentially all your complaints about being instakilled are because of counter magic. If you don’t use that skill, he does a massive attack on you, and it’s not avoidable by any means whatsoever. Go get that unlocked, bind your special action key to a good button, and then try the fight again. I’m extremely curious to find out how you do at that point.

No, like I said – even the sniper trash mobs were mopping the floor with me. It wasn’t just Counter Magic.

Also, I was asking for an anvil in the barn to repair armor. Caudecus is hard when all your armor is broken.

Idk, that just seems like such an odd complaint. Were you mostly having trouble with the first phase or the second phase?

I had trouble with all of it. If you read my earliest comments on this thread, I detail it. Usually by the time I got to first-phase Caudecus in the fireplace room, all my equipment was damaged from dying repeatedly. Caudecus usually managed to break all my armor completely by the time he went down. So I went into Caudecus phase 2 pretty much naked.

….huh

Irensaga.6935:

Vayne.8563:

Irensaga.6935:

Haishao.6851:

Irensaga.6935:

Haishao, that explains it.

Ancient Magics is locked for me. When I mouse over it, it says I have to go to Ember Bay or Bloodstone Fen to unlock it.

Nuts…. like I said, I only bought HoT in November. I only just barely cleared the Verdant Brink map.

No fifth downed state skill for me yet I guess.

I thought you meant the special ability that people used to have trouble with during this mission, which is counter magic. The 5th downed state is in this mastery page too but it’s the last one at the bottom. Spectral Aid.

Naw, I was just confused. The special ability – counter magics is also under Ancient Magic masteries – so I can’t get that either.

Looks like I have to either blow a couple more repair canisters, or just give up on Head of the Snake for now and go work on Bloodstone Fen.

Except that I think you really need your glider masteries working to use that map well… so I’m probably off to Auric Basin instead.

Or you can ask for help. If you’re on a US server, I’d be happy to run it with you.

Can you bring grouped people into the instance with you?

Sure can. I play most stories with my wife. My guild does it all the time.

Prime Greek.1092:

The average player just cannot complete the story !

In GW1 you had the option of selecting normal mode and hard mode. It at least provided payers with an option to play at the level they wanted

Many people still needed help for missions like Thirsty River, Gyala Hatchery/Eternal Grove, Jennur’s Horde/Nundu Bay, Grand Court of Sebelkeh or Gate of Madness. Because they weren’t able to do it with their heroes or using henchmen.

Prime Greek.1092:

The average player just cannot complete the story !

In GW1 you had the option of selecting normal mode and hard mode. It at least provided payers with an option to play at the level they wanted

The average GW2 player is 3 years old then?

The boss was a challenging pain in the butt, but do-able pre nerf, after the nerf he is laughable. All that was really needed to be done in order to adjust the difficulty was to give a bit more time to hit the action skill. That was done + more, i seriously feel he was nerfed to the point where the fight is plain boring.Apparently the fight is still too difficult for the “average” player though, so what next? How about an auto complete instance button? Sound good?

Prime Greek.1092:

The average player just cannot complete the story !

In GW1 you had the option of selecting normal mode and hard mode. It at least provided payers with an option to play at the level they wanted

I’ve done this fight twice so far, once on a full Zurker warrior, and again on on a full trap guard. I probably died 5 times with my zurker warrior. but the second time with my guard was a cake walk. Next up will be my ranger. and I fully expect not to die again. if you can’t figure out that you need to get his shield down quick, and DPS him down then, maybe it’s you and not the game. Maybe change your build? The game is not about one build for every game mode. you have other skills and traits for a reason, try changing them up a bit.

Yes the fight before the patch was on the hard side, and probably something Raiders enjoyed. after the patch I’d say it is in a good place. it’s still challenging, but not a just walk up to the boss and spam 1. He is a boss.

Jades are big an easy to see

The new mobs are tiny and in an enclosed room with tons of explosions harder to notice.

The map should have been made slightly larger giving you more room to maneuver. The ancient magic deal I’m glad was nerfed and it should have been but I’ll take it even further. The issue I have with the ancient magic but being a requirement is the location of the skill. I don’t use the mouse to click my skills I use my keyboard I do use my mouse to target mobs though.

But when the skill flashes to be clicked it’s not the time the give but the awkward positioning needed to click it. Maybe there is a way already but I’d like to be able to keybind these timed abilities. People probably wouldn’t complain as much if it could be keybined to a simple key press. Unless that’s already an option and if that’s the case I’ll fall back to the tried and true game needs more tutorials to explain things complaint.

You can bind a key to the special skill button.

Also, the added mobs appear at predictable times. When the walls stop spinning, a door opens. Wait for those walls to stop and find the mobs. If you catch them early, you can deal with them before they spread out into the room. Never break Caudecus’ shield while you still have other mobs around, they’ll ruin the DPS phase.

In a nutshell:

• Throw bloodstone at Caudecus.
• The walls will start spinning before you break him.
• Ignore Caudecus, wait for the walls to stop, look for an open door.
• Kill mobs.
• Finish breaking shield with bloodstone.
• Have a DPS phase without interfering extras.
• Repeat.

All the while, just stay calm and avoid orange circles. Nothing particularly difficult will happen if you know what’s coming and are ready for it.

I consider myself pretty average at this kind of thing, and I managed to pull it off without going down at all on a mesmer in berserker gear. It was the third character I did the fight on. I was pretty overwhelmed the first time I did it (the jade bow didn’t help!) but once you realize everything that happens is predictable, it’s a lot less hard than initial impressions do suggest. Missteps can be brutally punished though, with the chained launches and knockdowns.

Manasa Devi.7958:

You can bind a key to the special skill button.

Also, the added mobs appear at predictable times. When the walls stop spinning, a door opens. Wait for those walls to stop and find the mobs. If you catch them early, you can deal with them before they spread out into the room. Never break Caudecus’ shield while you still have other mobs around, they’ll ruin the DPS phase.

In a nutshell:

• Throw bloodstone at Caudecus.
• The walls will start spinning before you break him.
• Ignore Caudecus, wait for the walls to stop, look for an open door.
• Kill mobs.
• Finish breaking shield with bloodstone.
• Have a DPS phase without interfering extras.
• Repeat.

All the while, just stay calm and avoid orange circles. Nothing particularly difficult will happen if you know what’s coming and are ready for it.

I consider myself pretty average at this kind of thing, and I managed to pull it off without going down at all on a mesmer in berserker gear. It was the third character I did the fight on. I was pretty overwhelmed the first time I did it (the jade bow didn’t help!) but once you realize everything that happens is predictable, it’s a lot less hard than initial impressions do suggest. Missteps can be brutally punished though, with the chained launches and knockdowns.

I have to agree, I especially like binding the special key. I actually read before I attempted the first time people recommending this so I bound it to the scroll wheel button on my mouse. Heck I send it back almost as soon as I get hit with it. This in my opinion is a great way to go.

So far I have completed with: Necro (solo) 2 Rangers (with 1-3 friends) Guardian/Dragon Hunter (using traps from DH with Greatsword and Scepter/shield besure to use the F1 key to teather and do damage) and Elementalist (Fire/Berserker) Mesmer/Chrono (full berserker).

Next gonna try a Thief……..

Any of you guys tried to do the last fight with the miniature tonic. I feel like using that gives you way more space to see in the last room. At least worked for me.

OGDeadHead.8326:

Rose Solane.1027:

I think the main problem with this fight is that it is not an interesting one.

Won’t argue against that.

Rose Solane.1027:

We think the fight is doable with 5 to 10 deaths. We are all very experienced players, some of us even complete raids (not my thing). I think we are amongst the better players in the game (top 10% I guess). I think a story instance where experienced players die 5 to 10 times is too difficult.

So you say you’re probably among the top 10% in this game, and yet you on average die 5-10 times in this encounter. I mean – really?

Yes Maybe I underestimate the level that players have.

I did the encounter once. I probably will not die as much if I did it again. But, why should I? As I said, it isn’t an interesting fight. And I don’t think that repeating a rather uninteresting fight just to learn from it is fun, or something I should do in the game.

One of the my guild mates did it as an elementalist. That made the fight easier (according to her) so I was surprised to hear that she also died a few times.

To be positive: This fight isn’t the worst boss fight in the history of GW2. I think it is amongst the better ones. I simply don’t like most boss fights much

Rose Solane.1027:

OGDeadHead.8326:

Rose Solane.1027:

I think the main problem with this fight is that it is not an interesting one.

Won’t argue against that.

Rose Solane.1027:

We think the fight is doable with 5 to 10 deaths. We are all very experienced players, some of us even complete raids (not my thing). I think we are amongst the better players in the game (top 10% I guess). I think a story instance where experienced players die 5 to 10 times is too difficult.

So you say you’re probably among the top 10% in this game, and yet you on average die 5-10 times in this encounter. I mean – really?

Yes Maybe I underestimate the level that players have.

I did the encounter once. I probably will not die as much if I did it again. But, why should I? As I said, it isn’t an interesting fight. And I don’t think that repeating a rather uninteresting fight just to learn from it is fun, or something I should do in the game.

One of the my guild mates did it as an elementalist. That made the fight easier (according to her) so I was surprised to hear that she also died a few times.

To be positive: This fight isn’t the worst boss fight in the history of GW2. I think it is amongst the better ones. I simply don’t like most boss fights much

I won’t argue against anything in your reply here. I will however argue against people complaining about this fight, saying it’s ‘ridiculously hard’. It’s not, in fact it’s very easy, but players in this game are so used to the very easy and forgiving gameplay in this game, that they will complain as soon as something semi-challenging shows up, that they will more or less demand that Anet should be dumbing down the content to suit their needs.

Everything i GW2 is easy. Coming from Vanguard (the best mmo noone ever heard of), this game is THE epitome of a casual mmo, if there ever was one.

I truly hope Anet will continue to push more challenging content even for solo players like myself, and not only cater to the category of players that wants everything handed to them on a silver platter.