Guild Wars 2

First, Marjory says something about countermagic, implicating you need the new mastery. You can also read up on all the effects as the first three bloodstones do not drain much health: http://i.imgur.com/znNbOaY.jpg

Then, right before the elemental fight, Marjory explicitly states that shields will go down if you catch them in the bloodstone flux: http://i.imgur.com/Gg2lygW.jpg

It might have been worded in a more in-your-face manner, but why?
It’s been perfectly explained, there was time to read up on the effects and the new skill, to practice, and to take the shields down from elementals after an NPC tells you what to do.

Any external distractors should not be seen as a ‘reason’ for the story to be ill-written.

I died to her two times before i got it right the first time, and i am glad that not all fights and mechanics are dumbed down in this game anymore, and that we, as players, are actually required to follow advice of the NPCs, prepare for the occassion and execute our fight properly instead of simply pressing 2 for three minutes.

I soloed it with my berserker mesmer. so yer once you get the technique down it is soloable.

RedDeadFred.1256:

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

What? Canach and Marjory were staring at a wall without joining the fight and Rytlock was … well, “trying” to beat one of those archers. When he got him down, it was about respawn time so he started again. Once in a while Rytlock would lose, kneel down and regenerate. Fun to watch though.

The mechanics are easy, but all in all the instance is rather tedious. But hey, maybe those NPCs will fight with the next char …

Season 3, Episode 1 is NOT solo unfriendly…
I easily soloed it and had no issues with any of the classes.
You really need to just learn how to play, get better at moving and dodging and part of the fun is learning the boss mechanics. Just face-rolling an NPC like normal mobs is boring in my honest opinion. I hope ArenaNet does not nerf this episode and I hope more interesting and weird boss mechanics get introduced that make you think.

Seriously. I suck at this game. Slow reflexes I guess. This was the easiest to solo LS ever. Yeah, the Justicar battle was odd until I realized what I had to do. Then it was simple and she dropped fast.

Sorry, but if you find this difficult, LS2 must have been a nightmare for you.

Reztek.7805:

RedDeadFred.1256:

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

What? Canach and Marjory were staring at a wall without joining the fight and Rytlock was … well, “trying” to beat one of those archers. When he got him down, it was about respawn time so he started again. Once in a while Rytlock would lose, kneel down and regenerate. Fun to watch though.

The mechanics are easy, but all in all the instance is rather tedious. But hey, maybe those NPCs will fight with the next char …

This happened to me as well on my last trip through that instance going for the hidden achieves, except Canach was the only one helping out, while Marjory and Ritlock just stared at the walls. Leaving me to kite about 7 mobs and fight the boss at the same time. Only good thing was when I was downed Marjory would heal me…….little buggy I’d say, but it is a new release so stuff happens.

It wasn’t that hard, it just took an ungodly amount of time because she has so much HP. The endlessly spawning guys weren’t that big an issue because they do kitten damage and die easy. I went down one time in the fight because I was timing my attacks poorly and let her hit me, but I got back up because I was trashing the adds too. It also appears that someone is healing you every so often, but I’m not sure who it was.

Using the bloodstone is the easiest thing in the world, though, and shouldn’t be a consideration.

I see a lot of people in this thread are answering the questions “Is it possible?” or “How do you do it?” But there’s only one question that actually matters: “Is it fun?”

It’s not, basically. None of the PvE added to this game since HoT has actually been fun.

For me story was easy. You just need to know boss mechanic.

I think Justiciar Adrienne have more hp than other bosses.
Jade armors seems to die faster for condies.

Other enemies were like any normal mob you see in the world they die fast.
Hate these white mantle mesmers that you need to kill twice and ley line weapons hit hard.

I.. didnt have any trouble at all, and I soloed the whole thing. I thought it was a cakewalk, tbh..

I think I was only downed maybe even once, and that probably wouldn’t have happened if NPCs had been helping fight. (A problem I had at numerous times with different NPCs.)

Sort of scratching my head on this one…
I’m not the best ranger, i know that for a fact… I was playing a with a viper set, shortbow and staff. Electric Wyvern and Fern Hound. Did it by myself with no help….

You just need to prioritize the mobs first then the boss

Just like any game, if you go for the boss first, you’re going to find yourself on the floor.

Re-binding the special action key helped a lot for me. Besides that, it helps to listen for the distinctive chime that sounds when the counterspell mechanic comes into play.

Mechanics could be explained a bit better, but it is not an incredibly difficult instance. That justicar has way too much hp for a midboss though. The jade armor was actually easier than she was.

tobascodagama.2961:

I see a lot of people in this thread are answering the questions “Is it possible?” or “How do you do it?” But there’s only one question that actually matters: “Is it fun?”

It’s not, basically. None of the PvE added to this game since HoT has actually been fun.

Fun is subjective. Personally, I’ve had a lot of fun in bloodstone fen and doing HoT meta’s. Does that mean my fun cancels out your non-fun? No, it just means you can’t simply say something isn’t fun. It’s not fun to you. That’s your issue.

As for the OP. I ran this on my maruader/zerk mix theif with no issues, and didnt even die. I get like 3-5 frames per second average. It’s definately a L2P issue.

Regardless of the details in the fight, it’s the final battle of the new chapter. It’s designed to be slightly challenging for 5 people, not to be easy for one. If you are having trouble, use LFG to play with others or try a different profession and/or build to change the dynamics.

Lots of people have soloed it and lots won’t ever be able to. By itself, that suggests that it’s neither “too easy” nor “too hard”. It’s certainly less troublesome than similar parts of LS2.

There was nothing even remotely difficult about that mission, and I had no issue figuring out the mechanics. I am not even that good of a player. Hell, I had more trouble with the KB spamming glowy guy in the previous mission since my build lacked a consistent source of stability.

I actually found LW3S1 to be more solo-friendly than the others

I found the easiest way to beat the last boss is to get the buff, activate it and run right at him, through him to the other side. Stand there as long as the skill lasts and you should be right next to another bloodstone. Rinse and repeat, just keep running through him with the buff (it will constantly damage him) and you can also attack with your weapons/skills to kill him even faster.

I’m just tired of the constant knock downs and knock backs. Were we not given stability skills to counter these, what’s the point if immediately after one KD/KB they follow up with another? This is annoying as all hell.

TheManowar.2014:

I actually found LW3S1 to be more solo-friendly than the others

Aye,. the constant rezes and check point rather close. Now if only degredation during death wasn’t a thing so it doesn’t get to the point where a hit during downed state instagibbed you haha At least for personal story instances I mean.

To all those saying “it was really easy, what’s wrong with you?” – apparently you are just an awesome player since other people are having problems. Don’t hurt yourself patting yourself on the back like that.

I agree – I HATE this fight.

Djinn.9245:

To all those saying “it was really easy, what’s wrong with you?” – apparently you are just an awesome player since other people are having problems. Don’t hurt yourself patting yourself on the back like that.

I agree – I HATE this fight.

Or maybe we just know the basic combat mechanics and build making and not just spamming skills and facerolling?

I have made a guide on how to improve in combat and make builds so if anyone is struggling go check it out and learn something. I hope this helps:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/GW2-Combat-system-101-Guide/first

Living story is like the easiest content in the game lol

I did it with some difficulty the first time through without any hints off the internet and with the squishiest low-power build I had. It was really interesting figuring out what to do but I did die more than once.

Next time it should be easy.

Edit: mistakes I made were…
Floor traps repeatedly
Jumping off the path to glide instead of attacking the shard
Hard-hitting new mob attacks
Exploding elemental bits
What are these little elemental bits for?
Killing adds instead of ignoring them
Trying to stretch the beam without attacking the shard
…and more like that.

I had fun. Ty, Arenanet!

First off, not everyone plays at the same skill level or with the same style…so knock of the degrading talk. Second, perhaps binding the Asura Special Action Skill(you do get it from and Asura, so it is an Asura skill) does make it easier, but not everyone uses the keyboard/bindings for combat. Personally, I use mouse clicks for everything…it just takes some effort getting the timing down(and yes, the mouse still works fine even after 10 million plus clicks). Can the fight be annoying yes, but I may just leave this one alone like the end of HoT, it’s not a deal breaker if I don’t actually complete the episode any time soon.

I’m just getting sick of artificial difficulty in the form of chaining Knock Downs and Knock Backs. It isn’t challenging – it’s annoying.

LOL – “no, I’m not an awesome player, but I found it easy”. What an overt backhanded insult.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Regardless of the details in the fight, it’s the final battle of the new chapter. It’s designed to be slightly challenging for 5 people, not to be easy for one. If you are having trouble, use LFG to play with others or try a different profession and/or build to change the dynamics.

Lots of people have soloed it and lots won’t ever be able to. By itself, that suggests that it’s neither “too easy” nor “too hard”. It’s certainly less troublesome than similar parts of LS2.

I was surprised to find I was able to solo this one. There were issues with learning what to do especially towards the final battle. I agree not everyone might be able to solo this. Overall this one was oh so much better than the last living story. It was broken up into chunks I could handle before going on to the next bit. Maybe I was lucky or maybe this one was finally geared towards what I am able to do. I have no idea. I really liked how this story played out for me though I realize it might be too easy for some or too difficult for others. For once Anet got it exactly right for me.

I had one guildie who had all kinds of trouble soloing this so two of us helped him out for the final bits. Definitely say what area you are having difficulties in. A lot of folk are usually more than willing to finish the story with you.

Facerolled all LS3 content on multiple characters with bad builds and gear. So its definetely l2p issue.

Easy fights, major l2p issue, move on…

Ronin.7381:

I’m just getting sick of artificial difficulty in the form of chaining Knock Downs and Knock Backs. It isn’t challenging – it’s annoying.

You do know you can literally kite the justicar in a circle with a ranged wep without ever getting hit by her cc right?

FrostDraco.8306:

Ronin.7381:

I’m just getting sick of artificial difficulty in the form of chaining Knock Downs and Knock Backs. It isn’t challenging – it’s annoying.

You do know you can literally kite the justicar in a circle with a ranged wep without ever getting hit by her cc right?

It is very difficult to continually stay out of reach for the entire fight. I know, I know, L2P, whatever – some people don’t have skills as good as others obviously.

I hated the extra button. Was it really necesary to add a new input, when a single “F” activation would have been enough? Please don’t use it this way again.

Also, the bloodstone constructs fought too close to the shards, so it was not clear how I broke their armors. It costed me 2 deaths to understand I had to use the beam against the justicar.

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?

I am with you, on that half the time I am killing those spawning warriors or deactivating the bloodstone while that guy is going in circles don’t know about playing badly why don’t you set up a video showing us or show us a build instead of saying you must be playing badly or with a bad build. Just a thought.

Ardid.7203:

I hated the extra button. Was it really necesary to add a new input, when a single “F” activation would have been enough? Please don’t use it this way again.

Also, the bloodstone constructs fought too close to the shards, so it was not clear how I broke their armors. It costed me 2 deaths to understand I had to use the beam against the justicar.

I also didn’t like the introduction of an extra button. They introduce it and then “surprise! now use it in a boss fight!”

Djinn.9245:

Ardid.7203:

I hated the extra button. Was it really necesary to add a new input, when a single “F” activation would have been enough? Please don’t use it this way again.

Also, the bloodstone constructs fought too close to the shards, so it was not clear how I broke their armors. It costed me 2 deaths to understand I had to use the beam against the justicar.

I also didn’t like the introduction of an extra button. They introduce it and then “surprise! now use it in a boss fight!”

Actually the button has been in the game for at least a year.

Ardid.7203:

I hated the extra button. Was it really necesary to add a new input, when a single “F” activation would have been enough? Please don’t use it this way again.

Also, the bloodstone constructs fought too close to the shards, so it was not clear how I broke their armors. It costed me 2 deaths to understand I had to use the beam against the justicar.

The Function button would be less noticed by players unless they earned the auto loot function. A giant button appears on your screen that has never been seen before? Of course people are more likely to be “Oh, I touch this!” regardless of whether or not they unlocked the mastery.

FrostDraco.8306:

Djinn.9245:

Ardid.7203:

I hated the extra button. Was it really necesary to add a new input, when a single “F” activation would have been enough? Please don’t use it this way again.

Also, the bloodstone constructs fought too close to the shards, so it was not clear how I broke their armors. It costed me 2 deaths to understand I had to use the beam against the justicar.

I also didn’t like the introduction of an extra button. They introduce it and then “surprise! now use it in a boss fight!”

Actually the button has been in the game for at least a year.

In what content?

Djinn.9245:

FrostDraco.8306:

Djinn.9245:

Ardid.7203:

I hated the extra button. Was it really necesary to add a new input, when a single “F” activation would have been enough? Please don’t use it this way again.

Also, the bloodstone constructs fought too close to the shards, so it was not clear how I broke their armors. It costed me 2 deaths to understand I had to use the beam against the justicar.

I also didn’t like the introduction of an extra button. They introduce it and then “surprise! now use it in a boss fight!”

Actually the button has been in the game for at least a year.

In what content?

It’s from raids. I haven’t experienced it myself as I’ve only attempted VG, but I’ve read it was there. And I’d seen the concept in WoW raiding, and someone commented on hot-keying it for LS, so I got it handled pretty smoothly. But if I had less time to read forums and had no WoW experience I’d not even have thought about hot-keying it, if I even knew what the heck that box was doing flashing up on my UI.

Donari.5237:

Djinn.9245:

FrostDraco.8306:

Djinn.9245:

Ardid.7203:

I hated the extra button. Was it really necesary to add a new input, when a single “F” activation would have been enough? Please don’t use it this way again.

Also, the bloodstone constructs fought too close to the shards, so it was not clear how I broke their armors. It costed me 2 deaths to understand I had to use the beam against the justicar.

I also didn’t like the introduction of an extra button. They introduce it and then “surprise! now use it in a boss fight!”

Actually the button has been in the game for at least a year.

In what content?

It’s from raids. I haven’t experienced it myself as I’ve only attempted VG, but I’ve read it was there. And I’d seen the concept in WoW raiding, and someone commented on hot-keying it for LS, so I got it handled pretty smoothly. But if I had less time to read forums and had no WoW experience I’d not even have thought about hot-keying it, if I even knew what the heck that box was doing flashing up on my UI.

Thanks for the explanation. A new button in Raids only is not exactly the same as being “in the game”. I am on the forums a lot but don’t raid so I didn’t know anything about it.

BAD button. Really unnecesary, really ugly, a cheap solution also taken from a bad game.
Get rid of it, please Anet. You can do better.

I’ll admit, I had a bit of trouble in this fight. Not from the mechanics, though, just raw power trouble. I did get downed a couple of times in the fight against Adrienne, but never defeated. I also thought that the bloodstone would become active sooner, and that just one hit would disable the shield instead of a constant beam like it was for the bloodstone elementals. The actual mechanics of counter-magic, though, were pretty well-explained if you listened and observed.

I watched AuroraPeachy and BogOtter’s playthrough of this instance, and they seemed to think that you had to have the beam go through the shield before you reversed the magic. I don’t know how they got that impression, so maybe players who were confused that way could explain it to me?

I don’t even understand what you are saying. How could they use the beam without reversing the magic first?

You get the beam by standing near the bloodstone spike. But you move excruciatingly slowly unless you use the special action to counter the magic.

I soloed everything in the actual story, and the only things I didn’t solo in the area was the clearly unsoloable events, such as the jade armors. The only problem I had in the entire LS was the very first encounter of the last episode of the story, but aside from that, easy peasy.

There were a few tight moments here and there, and getting through BF with the hoards of white mantle has resulted in a few deaths, but generally nothing I couldn’t handle.

Don’t know what to tell ya, but yes, it can well be soloed aside from those few events.

Donari.5237:

You get the beam by standing near the bloodstone spike. But you move excruciatingly slowly unless you use the special action to counter the magic.

Use the counter magic immediately, then run to get on the other side of the thing before it expires.

Morfedel.4165:

Donari.5237:

You get the beam by standing near the bloodstone spike. But you move excruciatingly slowly unless you use the special action to counter the magic.

Use the counter magic immediately, then run to get on the other side of the thing before it expires.

Yes, I know I was replying to the post just above mine which asked how someone could get the beam without using counter magic, by explaining that you can, it just makes you move slow unless you use the special action.

The only problem I had was figuring out how to do the fight. A quick look for instructions on the internet fixed that up, and afterwards the fight was easy.

Djinn.9245:

Ardid.7203:

I hated the extra button. Was it really necesary to add a new input, when a single “F” activation would have been enough? Please don’t use it this way again.

Also, the bloodstone constructs fought too close to the shards, so it was not clear how I broke their armors. It costed me 2 deaths to understand I had to use the beam against the justicar.

I also didn’t like the introduction of an extra button. They introduce it and then “surprise! now use it in a boss fight!”

Since I haven’t done raids I did not know about the extra button prior to LS3. Once I saw it I checked Options to see that it was mapped to keyboard " – " so I mapped it to a mouse button and the fights became a whole lot easier.

Djinn.9245:

FrostDraco.8306:

Ronin.7381:

I’m just getting sick of artificial difficulty in the form of chaining Knock Downs and Knock Backs. It isn’t challenging – it’s annoying.

You do know you can literally kite the justicar in a circle with a ranged wep without ever getting hit by her cc right?

It is very difficult to continually stay out of reach for the entire fight. I know, I know, L2P, whatever – some people don’t have skills as good as others obviously.

I certainly understand having difficulty staying out of reach especially if the fight gets drawn out. Some may not have the focus to do that and it is not always a L2P issue. Some fights are very challenging for me especially if they get drawn out. The last living story was a nightmare because of the endurance gauntlet it was. I simply do not have the focus for the extended period of those fights. Sometimes it is just having to learn the mechanics first and I won’t get it the first time or even the second time I try. This one I got lucky because I was able to figure out the mechanics on the first go round.

Didn’t read the thread but I thought it was perfectly fine. However, I did it on my zerker ele and I blast finish heals alot.