Guild Wars 2

Drawn back in because of the expansion rumors and really impressed by what I saw of Point of No Return. I’m now reading the end of the first season was even better. Maybe it’s just because I’m rusty in playing but I don’t feel the Point of No Return content is well balanced for solo play. I’ve heard it’s possible to play though it that way, but for me for solo experience it goes beyond sweat spot of really challenging to something I’d have to spend quite a bit of time and frustration with to beat. I know many gamers would would say that I just need to work harder at it, but those would likely be the types that typically go for the most difficult settings on games when the option is available… Also finding people to play though the content seems like it should be easier given the LFG option but after signing in twice today (once during peek hours) and getting no responses I’ve suddenly lost interest in the expansion. I played though all my personal story chapters solo without problem, so I’m thinking ANet has designed this Living World content with group play in mind, but it seems many players in the game world do not think that is the case which makes the experience or recruiting others to join a challenge and overall just led me to sign out and loose some interest in the potential expansion.

It does look like much of what the community was asking for when I last played has been addressed though so thank you ANet for listening and for the improvements in the end game content.

If you can tell the forums what exactly you’re having trouble with then perhaps we can provide tips/advise to overcome these issues. It could be a build problem or just a player skill issue which can be easily fixed by changing tactics of play.

Sam, first of all, welcome back! I too took a long break last year and when I came back I fell in love with GW2 all over again. It took me a few weeks to shake the rust off. It was really embarrassing at first but after much blood and sweat I gradually got back to my old playing form.

The new level 80 PvE content can be difficult to solo in both open world and LS2. That being said it can be done. In fact it is very manageable if you are comfortable with your build (been using it for sometime now) and it is a decent build with thought to the tasks you need it to accomplish.

I was able to solo all LS2 on my ele with the final chapter being very smooth. So keep practicing, shake that rust off and if need be bring a friend. Stay patient and don’t expect to be on your A game your first week back after a long break. Keep at it and good luck!

You can’t expect to beat new content after a few days back. Keep at it, you’ll get the hang of it and when you do you will come back to this conversation and laugh.

Season 2 is designed to be much more challenging than the personal story, but it is absolutely soloable. Jumping straight into Point of No Return w/o playing the earlier chapter which wean you into is likely what makes it feel so much harder.

Also, play with diff set ups – Personal Story doesn’t encourage using different traits/weapons/skills like the LS does.

Just came back (a week ago) after a 6 month break. I found the new chapter to be quite challenging, but soloable entire way through with minimal deaths (I had a death or two… or three in some of the boss instances). Once you learn the encounters they become MUCH easier (that, or read spoilers, which I didn’t do other than for a couple of achievements).

Note: I played a (zerker) mesmer. The class has a combination of reasonable damage (with a lot of fire and forget capability) and (generally) high survivability. Once you beat each instance once, coming back is much easier. By now, I have managed to solo all achievements with exception of the timed Priory run, with reasonable amount of fails (although I did have severe issues with soloing the centaur boss in challenge mode).

Thanks for the encouragement. After further investigating I see so much has changed. My old builds and trait chains have to be reworked and I should probably spend some time warming up again before jumping into this content!

You can post a LFG ad to do it with a group if you’re haivng trouble alone, its a new option in your “Friends” menu at the top of the screen.