Guild Wars 2

The fight against the Justiciar is crazy! You have to fight endless spawning enemy and need to discharge the shield or this could go on forever. Seriously WTF is this? Isn’t solo story going to get everyone experience the story?

I really dont think it’s that hard unless you are playing really badly or using bad builds.

warbignime.4610:

I really dont think it’s that hard unless you are playing really badly or using bad builds.

Died many many times.

You have to do it 3 times and if you go too close, it knocks u off. If you go too far, the bloodstone effect will end.

Slowpokeking.8720:

The fight against the Justiciar is crazy! You have to fight endless spawning enemy and need to discharge the shield or this could go on forever. Seriously WTF is this? Isn’t solo story going to get everyone experience the story?

it’s more that the fight is HORRENDOUSLY explained and the prior experiences with the 2 golems prior expects you to pay absolute attention to how you removed the shield.

while absorbing the bloodstone magic you MUST have the beam passing through the foe, this will deal damage to her shield/breakbar (the next boss also does this as well)

Slowpokeking.8720:

You have to do it 3 times and if you go too close, it knocks u off. If you go too far, the bloodstone effect will end.

The trick here is that you have to be quick… there is a difference in how the skill, let’s call it bloodstone beam (since it doesn’t really have a specific name), reacts if you go near a bloodstone the counter magic special skill activates — now if you do not activate the skill and move away the beam connecting you to the bloodstone will easily break, however, if you immediately activate the counter magic you can move a lot more freely, and a lot further away, without the beam breaking.

Of course, the trick is when you activate the counter magic the bloodstone shard will start to take damage so you have to be really quick since you have a small window of time where you have the opportunity to both move freely and use the beam.

Unfortunately, and this is a small fault on the part of the designers, this key difference in how the beam operates never necessarily becomes clear to the player as long as there is only one blood stone to work with (ie. the Justicar encounter), it becomes obvious in the final encounter though, as you realize the beam no longer tethers,or breaks, to the other bloodstones once you have activated the skill pretty quickly.

The mechanic doesn’t work at all on this……I’ve grabbed the bloodstone connection and waited for her to stop spinning, crossed her into the line of bloodstone and the shield does not reduce. The event is bugged.

*edit…ok after posting this the event is finally working again…..been able to get the shield to work….something was amiss though

crosknight.3041:

Slowpokeking.8720:

The fight against the Justiciar is crazy! You have to fight endless spawning enemy and need to discharge the shield or this could go on forever. Seriously WTF is this? Isn’t solo story going to get everyone experience the story?

it’s more that the fight is HORRENDOUSLY explained and the prior experiences with the 2 golems prior expects you to pay absolute attention to how you removed the shield.

while absorbing the bloodstone magic you MUST have the beam passing through the foe, this will deal damage to her shield/breakbar (the next boss also does this as well)

I killed her, but how to do the last boss? The jade construct is keep spinning

Crise.9401:

Slowpokeking.8720:

You have to do it 3 times and if you go too close, it knocks u off. If you go too far, the bloodstone effect will end.

The trick here is that you have to be quick… there is a difference in how the skill, let’s call it bloodstone beam (since it doesn’t really have a specific name), reacts if you go near a bloodstone the counter magic special skill activates — now if you do not activate the skill and move away the beam connecting you to the bloodstone will easily break, however, if you immediately activate the counter magic you can move a lot more freely, and a lot further away, without the beam breaking.

Of course, the trick is when you activate the counter magic the bloodstone shard will start to take damage so you have to be really quick since you have a small window of time where you have the opportunity to both move freely and use the beam.

Unfortunately, and this is a small fault on the part of the designers, this key difference in how the beam operates never necessarily becomes clear to the player as long as there is only one blood stone to work with (ie. the Justicar encounter), it becomes obvious in the final encounter though, as you realize the beam no longer tethers,or breaks, to the other bloodstones once you have activated the skill pretty quickly.

How to fight the last boss?

Its the same concept as previously…you have to get a connection to the bloodstone and get the boss to stand in the connection for a couple seconds to drop the shield…..

TyraelCAB.8056:

Its the same concept as previously…you have to get a connection to the bloodstone and get the boss to stand in the connection for a couple seconds to drop the shield…..

I watched the video, tried and found you must use that Asura skill when you get connected. Or the line would not be long enough.

Seriously, such mechanic should not appear in a single player story content, and you got no repair inside the instance, had to start all over if you exit.

Slowpokeking.8720:

TyraelCAB.8056:

Its the same concept as previously…you have to get a connection to the bloodstone and get the boss to stand in the connection for a couple seconds to drop the shield…..

I watched the video, tried and found you must use that Asura skill when you get connected. Or the line would not be long enough.

Seriously, such mechanic should not appear in a single player story content, and you got no repair inside the instance, had to start all over if you exit.

personally the mechanic would have been a whole heck of a lot better if it was easier to figure out, maybe have the NPCs drop hints or flat out tell you to “get her in the magic line”

crosknight.3041:

Slowpokeking.8720:

TyraelCAB.8056:

Its the same concept as previously…you have to get a connection to the bloodstone and get the boss to stand in the connection for a couple seconds to drop the shield…..

I watched the video, tried and found you must use that Asura skill when you get connected. Or the line would not be long enough.

Seriously, such mechanic should not appear in a single player story content, and you got no repair inside the instance, had to start all over if you exit.

personally the mechanic would have been a whole heck of a lot better if it was easier to figure out, maybe have the NPCs drop hints or flat out tell you to “get her in the magic line”

Also why there is no repair in the instance and you have to start all over again when you exit and enter? It’s all very unfriendly to players. Especially the Living World /HoT story is getting longer and longer.

I haven’t had problems with this. When you get the beam up you have to circle with the justicar. Swiftness helps. When you run with the justicar, it only takes a few moments to break the shield. I haven’t died here once (props to Marjory) and I’m zerker.

Last boss is a bit harder, since it knocks Marjory off as she tries to res you. lol Same thing though, put the construct between you and the stone and the shield melts quickly.

inubasiri.8745:

I haven’t had problems with this. When you get the beam up you have to circle with the justicar. Swiftness helps. When you run with the justicar, it only takes a few moments to break the shield. I haven’t died here once (props to Marjory) and I’m zerker.

Last boss is a bit harder, since it knocks Marjory off as she tries to res you. lol Same thing though, put the construct between you and the stone and the shield melts quickly.

It’s quite hard to keep at the right position, if you go too far the beam will end, if you go too close you will get knocked out.

The last fight was easier since there is no endless spawning mobs and you only need to do it once. The main problem is that without any hints, it’s impossible to even know how to do the fight.

Slowpokeking.8720:

inubasiri.8745:

I haven’t had problems with this. When you get the beam up you have to circle with the justicar. Swiftness helps. When you run with the justicar, it only takes a few moments to break the shield. I haven’t died here once (props to Marjory) and I’m zerker.

Last boss is a bit harder, since it knocks Marjory off as she tries to res you. lol Same thing though, put the construct between you and the stone and the shield melts quickly.

It’s quite hard to keep at the right position, if you go too far the beam will end, if you go too close you will get knocked out.

The last fight was easier since there is no endless spawning mobs and you only need to do it once. The main problem is that without any hints, it’s impossible to even know how to do the fight.

Didn’t have a problem with positioning myself. I would get knocked around a bit at times, but I thought that my own fault. Although I agree that the mob spawn should be boss % rather than time based. I thought the way to defeat the shield was self-evident after the first two golems.

I played through it on healer spec druid… pretty slow with as much HP as many of the enemies had, nothing difficult though.

inubasiri.8745:

Slowpokeking.8720:

inubasiri.8745:

I haven’t had problems with this. When you get the beam up you have to circle with the justicar. Swiftness helps. When you run with the justicar, it only takes a few moments to break the shield. I haven’t died here once (props to Marjory) and I’m zerker.

Last boss is a bit harder, since it knocks Marjory off as she tries to res you. lol Same thing though, put the construct between you and the stone and the shield melts quickly.

It’s quite hard to keep at the right position, if you go too far the beam will end, if you go too close you will get knocked out.

The last fight was easier since there is no endless spawning mobs and you only need to do it once. The main problem is that without any hints, it’s impossible to even know how to do the fight.

Didn’t have a problem with positioning myself. I would get knocked around a bit at times, but I thought that my own fault. Although I agree that the mob spawn should be boss % rather than time based. I thought the way to defeat the shield was self-evident after the first two golems.

when i was doing it i thought you just had to run in the shield while having the beam but that’s not the case. i swear there was a mechanic like that somewhere in the game before

Canach told you that with the two veteran bloodstone elementals. Why do you guys think it would be any different here? If you are slow learners, nothing arenanet does will help you. It was fast-paced, but hardly difficult.

crosknight.3041:

Slowpokeking.8720:

TyraelCAB.8056:

Its the same concept as previously…you have to get a connection to the bloodstone and get the boss to stand in the connection for a couple seconds to drop the shield…..

I watched the video, tried and found you must use that Asura skill when you get connected. Or the line would not be long enough.

Seriously, such mechanic should not appear in a single player story content, and you got no repair inside the instance, had to start all over if you exit.

personally the mechanic would have been a whole heck of a lot better if it was easier to figure out, maybe have the NPCs drop hints or flat out tell you to “get her in the magic line”

Yeah, I definitely think the lack of explanation was a little… eh… Even playing in the open world I’m still not even really sure what the special action key does.

But definitely both fights involving the bloodstone tethers were a terrible experience. I think it would be a lot better in general if the tethers extended further. The fact that it slows you down and does damage to you, with countless mobs spawning endlessly and the fact that the boss knocks you back if you’re even a centimeter too close makes it more difficult than it needs to be. The final boss especially, although having 4 bloodstones to tether to, is negated by the fact that the tethers only reach so far while you the boss is in the middle of them WHILE you have to avoid being practically one shot by his whirlwind.

If I weren’t on my thief and able to vault to the location to set myself up for passing the mob through the tether, I’m not sure how I would have completed them.

Fairly certain I was using the special action button wrong anyway, but without knowing entirely what it does or how to appropriately use it makes it the encounters a little frustrating.

Using the skill does not slow you down. Getting hit with the magic and not using the skill is what slows you down and saps your health. If you listen to the NPCs, it gives a brief explanation on what it’s doing.

cptaylor.2670:

Yeah, I definitely think the lack of explanation was a little… eh… Even playing in the open world I’m still not even really sure what the special action key does.

But definitely both fights involving the bloodstone tethers were a terrible experience. I think it would be a lot better in general if the tethers extended further. The fact that it slows you down and does damage to you, with countless mobs spawning endlessly and the fact that the boss knocks you back if you’re even a centimeter too close makes it more difficult than it needs to be. The final boss especially, although having 4 bloodstones to tether to, is negated by the fact that the tethers only reach so far while you the boss is in the middle of them WHILE you have to avoid being practically one shot by his whirlwind.

If I weren’t on my thief and able to vault to the location to set myself up for passing the mob through the tether, I’m not sure how I would have completed them.

Fairly certain I was using the special action button wrong anyway, but without knowing entirely what it does or how to appropriately use it makes it the encounters a little frustrating.

I finished the whole storyline last night. It was very enjoyable up to the Justiciar. That fight wasn’t difficult, just long and tedious. It took about 20-25 minutes of running round and round and round, occasionally being downed, being revived by Marjory and just waiting for it to be over. Didn’t die, didn’t enjoy it at all.

The fight with the Jade construct was much worse. It was exceptionally poorly explained – in fact it wasn’t explained at all. Using the same tactics from the Justiciar fight did not really work, Marjory wasn’t able to revive me very effectively and in the end I found it was easiest to die over and over and over again then hit “try again from checkpoint”. This respawns you right inside the arena at full health so you can just grab the next bloodstone line and whittle down a bit more of the endless shield.

I didn’t count the deaths but it must have been twenty at least – maybe thirty. I finished in my Asura one-piece swimsuit, which made for some odd victory screenshots. It was a horrible, boring, pointless half hour that largely spoiled what had been a good experience up to the Justiciar.

In hindsight I think I was doing the final fight wrong. I thought the Jade construct could only be damaged by the beam so I kept using it until the thing died, which meant scores of attempts. At the very end I got so frustrated i started to nuke it and saw it was taking full damage so maybe I should have done that earlier. There was no indication that I saw, however, that the construct had a specific shield or a breakbar so it looked as though only the beam would damage it.

All in all the two fights did a fair job of ruining the whole episode. I would happily take a “Skip Fight” option and forego ALL the rewards just to get past these things. I am not interested in any of the material rewards from Living Story, I just want to talk to the characters, hear the voiceover and follow the plot. Can we not have a “no combat, no rewards” version in future? I’m not playing GW2 for the combat, that’s for sure!

What? I did the entire story update solo without any real problems. O.o

Its easy enough to play it solo, as long as you have the proper build and you dont screw around. Its a bit poorly explained, but once you know how to remove the shields from the 2 golem thingies before the bossfight, the fight itself is very straightforward. Just dodge properly and you can survive with a glasscannon build (i know i did :p)

I finished it on a chronotank… it took a bit cause I do so little damage but I never died. In a single story instance…

So I guess this is a typical l2p type of a thing. You don’t even need to kill the adds there.

Zeivu.3615:

Canach told you that with the two veteran bloodstone elementals. Why do you guys think it would be any different here? If you are slow learners, nothing arenanet does will help you. It was fast-paced, but hardly difficult.

But in the last fight, you need to use that skill on the stone first, unlike the previous fights.

I don’t know what to tell you. I got through it quite easily on my Revenant. I only died once and that was because I was trying to collide with her rather than get the stream over her.

Just ignore the adds or kill some really quick and focus on the Justicar. Your allies are actually somewhat competent in this instance.

I wouldn’t say this is solo unfriendly. Okay, you have to work out the mechanics of the fights. Do you really want the whole concept on how to do them there already? part of gaming is to work out these things yourself or at least have a go. Not be told what to do at every turn or there is no sense of achievement. You want it all handed to you on a plate? Now come on. It is really not that hard to stay alive when soloing. Running around on ranger kiting away, yeah it took some time but hey, I got it done without dying. “Justiciar’s shield is down great, now to figure out how I did that”, run around a bit longer in a circle with longer radius, “oh i see, i have to keep her in the beam for about 3 seconds”. Now when it came to jade then use counter magic and keep in the beam again, you can heal or whatever it’s fine, just stand it in the beam for a few seconds, that’s it. “You counter the bloodstone magic which they are also powered by, mmm, opposite to power something is to disable something”. Job done. Takes a little while but still. I was popping off some of the white mantle while running around and even got an achievement for one celebrating too early or something like that. Had no idea about achievements for anything like that at that point, so that was a bonus. The first two jades are there for you to realise about getting the beam to pass through them to disable the shields. How can you say there is no way to know? if solo then just kite the instance. It may take a while but at least survivability is way higher and you can heal while using the new mastery counter magic (only one track may i add and not hard to gain) which begs a question, will more be added to that? probably and we at least know which dragon will be next most likely, the question though is this, why the reference about characters changing their outlooks/opinions on things?

With the Justiciars fight you do not even have to fight the other spawns. Just concentrate on the Justiciar. The other spawns will go for the members of your party, i.e. Rytlock etc. Nothing hard about it. I hardly even dodged, sometimes but not very often.

There is a reason for the new mastery counter magic. A new skill, so you do not DIE from not using it. It is the deadliest thing in the instance, the bloodstones, that is what kills you faster than anything else if you do not use the skill.

The two jades/golems/elementals (wasn’t paying attention tbh) are the biggest hint. The ones BEFORE the Justiciar. That is the training section if you like.

Forget the endless spawns totally, they are there to distract you. Pop them off if they get in the way while you stay targetted on what you need to, Justiciar and the big Jade. Follow that and kite and heal and use the new skill when it pops up (- key) and you shouldn’t die once.

The whole point being that even the brainbox Taimi doesn’t really know for sure.

On the last fight all i used was the stones. Does pretty good damage as it is really. just don’t get long before you Jade to move again is all. But for those few seconds, damage wise it is a lot each time.

Slowpokeking.8720:

crosknight.3041:

Slowpokeking.8720:

The fight against the Justiciar is crazy! You have to fight endless spawning enemy and need to discharge the shield or this could go on forever. Seriously WTF is this? Isn’t solo story going to get everyone experience the story?

it’s more that the fight is HORRENDOUSLY explained and the prior experiences with the 2 golems prior expects you to pay absolute attention to how you removed the shield.

while absorbing the bloodstone magic you MUST have the beam passing through the foe, this will deal damage to her shield/breakbar (the next boss also does this as well)

I killed her, but how to do the last boss? The jade construct is keep spinning

Once the bloodstone shard’s red beam is on you, hit your special action button. It keeps the beam on you, but you can move farther and faster.

Slowpokeking.8720:

The fight against the Justiciar is crazy! You have to fight endless spawning enemy and need to discharge the shield or this could go on forever. Seriously WTF is this? Isn’t solo story going to get everyone experience the story?

What is giving you the problem? I found the fight very easy on my warrior I used mace/shield and sword/torch.

maybe it depends on build and armortype. I’m a thief and I take damage very very fast. justiciar kills me with 2 attacks, even the adds hit hard when they go for me, I keep my distance using P/P 3 and it’s the only way I could kill her, but took some time and deaths. didn’t manage to kill the last one, waaaaay too many adds and stones. how are we suposed to do it solo when we die wih 2-3 hits from enemies???

Thankfully due to raids, I was familiar with the special action key already and had it in an easy to access position on my mouse. I was baffled by the bloodstone beams on the golems for a while and even restarted the instance because I thought it was a bug. Then I happened to get one in the beam and saw it was breaking down the shield.

Once I got to the boss, I realised that as she was moving, I’d need to keep the beam on her to break down her shield as she wasn’t stationary. Managed to solo without any deaths but then again I main a Reaper and we’re the masters of death. I can see how it’s slightly unintuitive and I guess the NPCs could give more helpful hints, but I honestly wouldn’t say it’s solo unfriendly. Kiting is a good habit to get into if you’re someone who solos content (or are just squishy), therefore strafing alongside the boss to keep her in the beam feels logical. I was able to keep up with her just fine on my Reaper with 0 swiftness boosts.

coso.9173:

maybe it depends on build and armortype. I’m a thief and I take damage very very fast. justiciar kills me with 2 attacks, even the adds hit hard when they go for me, I keep my distance using P/P 3 and it’s the only way I could kill her, but took some time and deaths. didn’t manage to kill the last one, waaaaay too many adds and stones. how are we suposed to do it solo when we die wih 2-3 hits from enemies???

…Try a different build?

The first time on my Ranger I basically flailed around the room while my pet bit her butt and focused on the adds.
Due to it being Druid/ranger it was slow but I didn’t find it hard or anything. Especially once she gets in the Spinning phase you just get the power stream from the shard and make her run into the line.
I used astral form 5/barrage/vine line to clear adds quick when they came out. It might also depend on how squishy your build is.

For the Jade Armour I just kept the bloodstone ability line going constantly and sat it ontop of it. It killed it pretty quick just doing that

MorDread.2378:

I wouldn’t say this is solo unfriendly. Okay, you have to work out the mechanics of the fights. Do you really want the whole concept on how to do them there already? part of gaming is to work out these things yourself or at least have a go..

Yes, because it’s just story for everyone to experience, not some achievement/challenge.

How… is this difficult?
After what Marjory said, I knew right away how to remove the shield of the mobs. Clever thinking is going to tell you that running to a point Adrienne will soon pass is extremely helpful and once she gets into the laser, she even gets slowed by a lot. I also completely ignored the spawning mobs since the NPCs were fighting them and I didn’t die while being a full berserker Ele without any defensive utilities.

This really isn’t difficult, neither is it badly explained.

//Oh yes also mobs don’t even reset anymore when you die, so you end up killing them at some point anyway…

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

How… is this difficult?
After what Marjory said, I knew right away how to remove the shield of the mobs. Clever thinking is going to tell you that running to a point Adrienne will soon pass is extremely helpful and once she gets into the laser, she even gets slowed by a lot. I also completely ignored the spawning mobs since the NPCs were fighting them and I didn’t die while being a full berserker Ele without any defensive utilities.

This really isn’t difficult, neither is it badly explained.

Because even without using the Asura skill you can remove the shield.

Slowpokeking.8720:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

How… is this difficult?
After what Marjory said, I knew right away how to remove the shield of the mobs. Clever thinking is going to tell you that running to a point Adrienne will soon pass is extremely helpful and once she gets into the laser, she even gets slowed by a lot. I also completely ignored the spawning mobs since the NPCs were fighting them and I didn’t die while being a full berserker Ele without any defensive utilities.

This really isn’t difficult, neither is it badly explained.

Because even without using the Asura skill you can remove the shield.

But Marjory tells you. She pretty much says “everything caught in its flux will have its magic reversed”
Not to offend you, but I’d expect someone who plays for the story to pay more attention to the dialogue.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

But Marjory tells you. She pretty much says “everything caught in its flux will have its magic reversed”
Not to offend you, but I’d expect someone who plays for the story to pay more attention to the dialogue.

Yes so I tried with the beam(the slow and dot on) without using the Asura skill, it still works on the bloodstone elementals and the Justiciar.

However, it makes the fight much harder and not working on the Jade construct because the beam is not long enough.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

But Marjory tells you. She pretty much says “everything caught in its flux will have its magic reversed”
Not to offend you, but I’d expect someone who plays for the story to pay more attention to the dialogue.

I take back my comment about NPCs giving more hints then. This is what I get for playing story content while on TS with people :P

Nevermind I tried to do it with melee staff thinking it would be much harder, but I could do it without too much trouble. I died once in the whole instance after dieing 20 times or more with PP

Slowpokeking.8720:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

How… is this difficult?
After what Marjory said, I knew right away how to remove the shield of the mobs. Clever thinking is going to tell you that running to a point Adrienne will soon pass is extremely helpful and once she gets into the laser, she even gets slowed by a lot. I also completely ignored the spawning mobs since the NPCs were fighting them and I didn’t die while being a full berserker Ele without any defensive utilities.

This really isn’t difficult, neither is it badly explained.

Because even without using the Asura skill you can remove the shield.

I read this whole thread twice and I still don’t understand why you keep bringing up asura racial skills……..

The fights are easy, quite easy in fact. Its just a different mechanic. If you like I can go with you to help you out in this chapter but it is most definitely possible to do it solo on all classes.

Run up to a bloodstone, wait for the special action skill to popup and use it, now you are channeling the bloodstone’s power or some kitten and then you run past the Justiciar (or the jade construct in that fight) and keep her in the beam. After about 2 seconds the justiciars shield will be gone.

And FYI the construct is the easier fight because the bloodstone beam actually hurts it too. So you don’t even have to do any fighting in that instance, just continuously run up to bloodstones, use the special action skill and then make sure you keep the construct in the beam as long as possible while avoiding his attacks. Mechanically its an easy fight. Just because its a new mechanic doesn’t mean its not solo friendly

crosknight.3041:

Slowpokeking.8720:

TyraelCAB.8056:

Its the same concept as previously…you have to get a connection to the bloodstone and get the boss to stand in the connection for a couple seconds to drop the shield…..

I watched the video, tried and found you must use that Asura skill when you get connected. Or the line would not be long enough.

Seriously, such mechanic should not appear in a single player story content, and you got no repair inside the instance, had to start all over if you exit.

personally the mechanic would have been a whole heck of a lot better if it was easier to figure out, maybe have the NPCs drop hints or flat out tell you to “get her in the magic line”

I agree crossing the beam with the NPCs was not explained well. I did figure it out at the golems. For while I and the other NPCs were fighting the first golem and I was getting frustrated because I kept hitting the bloodstone and getting the connection but could not figure out why the shield wasn’t affected.

Eventually I broke off and went beyond the first golem to the second one and that is when I got the second beam accidentally over the second golem which broke the shield and it was aha! Unfortunately all the other NPCs were engaged with the first shielded golem so I had to take the second down by myself. After that getting the first one was easy and I got the final battles a lot easier understanding that.

It might have been better to show an NPC grabbing the beam and showing us what needed to be done before getting there.

OriOri.8724:

I read this whole thread twice and I still don’t understand why you keep bringing up asura racial skills……..

The fights are easy, quite easy in fact. Its just a different mechanic. If you like I can go with you to help you out in this chapter but it is most definitely possible to do it solo on all classes.

Run up to a bloodstone, wait for the special action skill to popup and use it, now you are channeling the bloodstone’s power or some kitten and then you run past the Justiciar (or the jade construct in that fight) and keep her in the beam. After about 2 seconds the justiciars shield will be gone.

And FYI the construct is the easier fight because the bloodstone beam actually hurts it too. So you don’t even have to do any fighting in that instance, just continuously run up to bloodstones, use the special action skill and then make sure you keep the construct in the beam as long as possible while avoiding his attacks. Mechanically its an easy fight. Just because its a new mechanic doesn’t mean its not solo friendly

Yeah, but without using the asura skill, you get slowed and keep taking damage, which makes the fight much harder, and it wasn’t hinted to use the skill when you are dragging the beam.

I didn’t have any problems with this episode, with this fight either. This fight you all talking about was pretty easy, I had more problems with this mini yellow Vale Guardian.

Slowpokeking.8720:

OriOri.8724:

I read this whole thread twice and I still don’t understand why you keep bringing up asura racial skills……..

The fights are easy, quite easy in fact. Its just a different mechanic. If you like I can go with you to help you out in this chapter but it is most definitely possible to do it solo on all classes.

Run up to a bloodstone, wait for the special action skill to popup and use it, now you are channeling the bloodstone’s power or some kitten and then you run past the Justiciar (or the jade construct in that fight) and keep her in the beam. After about 2 seconds the justiciars shield will be gone.

And FYI the construct is the easier fight because the bloodstone beam actually hurts it too. So you don’t even have to do any fighting in that instance, just continuously run up to bloodstones, use the special action skill and then make sure you keep the construct in the beam as long as possible while avoiding his attacks. Mechanically its an easy fight. Just because its a new mechanic doesn’t mean its not solo friendly

Yeah, but without using the asura skill, you get slowed and keep taking damage, which makes the fight much harder, and it wasn’t hinted to use the skill when you are dragging the beam.

No, you don’t. Racial skills are not needed for this fight. When you get near a bloodstone it hurts you with a pretty large DoT effect. It also slows you down. So channel the special action skill you got from that mastery. It will popup when the bloodstone has “attacked” you, default keybinding is -. Use that skill and now you can channel the bloodstone magic through you. It instantly stops hurting you, you get to move faster, and it refills your endurance as well. That is literally all you have to do.

The fact that you keep talking about continuously taking damage shows that you aren’t actually using this skill, or at least not using it correctly.

OriOri.8724:

No, you don’t. Racial skills are not needed for this fight. When you get near a bloodstone it hurts you with a pretty large DoT effect. It also slows you down. So channel the special action skill you got from that mastery. It will popup when the bloodstone has “attacked” you, default keybinding is -. Use that skill and now you can channel the bloodstone magic through you. It instantly stops hurting you, you get to move faster, and it refills your endurance as well. That is literally all you have to do.

The fact that you keep talking about continuously taking damage shows that you aren’t actually using this skill, or at least not using it correctly.

I was talking about the special action skill. But even without using it, you could drag the beam to the elementals and the justicar and remove their shield. But the story didn’t hint you to use the skill.

That’s why it helps to be observant to what appears on your interface. It was also explained when you first unlocked the new mastery, hinting that you use a special skill if you read the mastery description. I knew what to expect, I just had to look for it on my skill bar.

I died a few times on my first try but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. They only thing that really kills you are the Area-of-Effect attacks your enemy uses. So it’s important to dodge them as much as possible.

And another problem you might be dealing with is that you tank too much. That means you constantly attack you enemy in close-combat and you keep getting pelted with attacks without dodging or staying mobile. You can’t always rely on berserk attacking because enemies in this story do use a bit of conditions such as daze, knockdown and confusion. So you need to stay on your toes to avoid them as much as possible.

Once you get the hang of channeling the bloodstones and using the beam on your enemies, that breaks their defiance and makes them vulnerable. That’s when you can tank them and unleash as much damage as you can. But when they get back up, take a few steps back and be on your guard.

What’s worked for me is walking around the Jade Construct in circles while attacking in close combat and timing my dodge just before it attacks. You’ll notice a yellow line that follows you. Study the timing of the attack and dodge just before it attacks to avoid getting frozen. Same goes with the spin attack. Don’t stay in side that circle and escape with a dodge the moment you see it on the floor. Stay outside until the attack finishes or continue attacking with a ranged weapon. And stop attacking when he’s shielded, or else the damage will reflect back to you. That is when you need to use the bloodstone beam on it instead. When you break the shield, that shield transfers you instead for a short time. Take advantage of it and do some damage.

The simple answer to all of these issues, which come up every time, is to have a “No Reward” story option that just uses a cut scene instead of a fight (can just be a single illustration – no need to animate it or do voicework). Then those who just want to follow the story can click through to get to the next relevant part at the cost of not getting the rewards that come form doing any actual fighting.

I did the story a second time on a druid instead of the berserker staff ele I used the first time and it was like a different game. Complete cakewalk. Class and build makes a huge difference to these things but I don’t believe anyone should have to change class or build just to watch and read a story. These things shouldn’t be connected, or at least not inextricably so.

Slowpokeking.8720:

OriOri.8724:

No, you don’t. Racial skills are not needed for this fight. When you get near a bloodstone it hurts you with a pretty large DoT effect. It also slows you down. So channel the special action skill you got from that mastery. It will popup when the bloodstone has “attacked” you, default keybinding is -. Use that skill and now you can channel the bloodstone magic through you. It instantly stops hurting you, you get to move faster, and it refills your endurance as well. That is literally all you have to do.

The fact that you keep talking about continuously taking damage shows that you aren’t actually using this skill, or at least not using it correctly.

I was talking about the special action skill. But even without using it, you could drag the beam to the elementals and the justicar and remove their shield. But the story didn’t hint you to use the skill.

The story teaches you about the skill and how it works a few steps back; first, in the previous story step, you get to fight the Jade Construct and see it damages stuff back; then, in the final step, you need to destroy bloodstones, then elementals, then the dudette…
With all due respect, but the current setup basically walks us through what and how needs to be done. It does so in the oldschool gaming style of showing rather than telling, which is the best way to handle it.

I’ve just finished the story on an alt wearing only masterwork gear, with no elite specialization – sure, it took longer and thus was more error-prone, i even died once – but that’s because i misclicked and was punished for my own error and weakness – but there was nothing especially difficult about it.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

But Marjory tells you. She pretty much says “everything caught in its flux will have its magic reversed”
Not to offend you, but I’d expect someone who plays for the story to pay more attention to the dialogue.

Actually, I did find this pretty easy to miss and not well explained. I’m usually decent at figuring out mechanics, but my youngest came in distracting me just before the bloodstone elements, and guild chat was in the same chat window as npc chat, and so it wasn’t until my 2nd try at the instance that I noticed Marjory’s line. It was obvious then, but it wasn’t before.

In my case, I somehow managed to strip the shield off of one of the elementals, but not the other, without seeing how it happened. I tried to keep close to both the bloodstone and the elemental, hitting my special action key repeatedly, as all the descriptions I saw seemed to imply to me that it was a question of proximity, but no luck (of course not … but that’s hindsight).

So yes, the mechanics were explained, but I’d argue the explanations were too easily missed in this case. I ended up quitting the instance last night (on the impenetrable bloodstone elemental) and trying again this morning. Once I caught Marjory’s line the rest was a piece of cake (ok, a zealot’s druid is pretty durable ), but I still think a mechanic this crucial to the instance should be explained in a way that isn’t this easily missed, or at least the hint repeated again after a while.