Guild Wars 2

Hi you all first time poster here in need of advice. We’re a group of four friend who have been enjoying GW2 together. We’re not total noobs when it comes to MMORPGs, but only two of us have been playing them more extensively (WoW). Also we’re playing pretty casually when there’s time from work, kids and other activities.

Now all of us hit lvl 35 and we thought it might be fun to get some challenge and head to the Ascalonian Catacombs. Four man as we feel that we should be able to figure it out without taking a fifth outsider with us.

The first time the ghosts really handed our behinds to us on a platter, but it was great fun. The second time we prepared a bit more and did much better. Still ran out of real life time to complete the dungeon. It was fun but it took us 2,5 hours to reach Eir, so we haven’t even met the bosses yet.

The classes we play are: Guardian, Thief and 2 x Warrior and I have two questions to you wise people:

1. How do you think we should “build” our characters in order to have the best group possible? I think none of us really have concentrated on creating a working build and it would be nice to get some synergy going. But we really don’t have much clue how to do it. In order to survive the dungeon without too many wipes we could use some advice how you would share the dps/support/tanking/etc roles between us (and which abilities/weapons/gear to take in order for us to then fullfill that role).

2. If you would change one character, what class would you take in? The thief and the guardian are given, but the other warrior has a necro alt and I have mesmer, engineer and ranger alts. It’s kind of boring to have two Warriors so I’ve been thinking of using my engineer instead. Is this a good idea or am I going to gimp the group even more?

We’re out there to have some fun, but don’t wish to give the ghosts too much easy mode killing us. We appreciate any feedback you might have on our quest.

May your next drop be exactly what you need. Thanks for reading and say hi if you see in me ingame.

You’re asking a lot. If you want to 4-man it I would wit till you get to 80 so you have all your traits and exotics.

With that being said, the most disposable would be the thief. Since you said it’s the two warriors that have alts, the next suggestion would be for you to use your mesmer. But that won’t make a huge difference since you’re replacing a warrior with a mesmer. If possible I would say replace the thief with the mesmer.

AC story, imo, is one of the hardest dungeons there is (next to TA). It’s a little cruel that Anet decided to have the first dungeon be one of the hardest. I would definitely say grab a 5th, somebody who can show you the ropes and help you through it.

If you are stuck on going 4 man with those classes and level, then I would just say run it over and over again learning the mechanics. There’s a certain order that you should be getting mobs, something like Cultist/Necromancer>elementalist>mesmer>monk>warrior/ranger.

My suggestion is that you consider trying to find a fifth player. Someone who knows the dungeon.
I remember the headaches our first tries at AC caused. Running it with my third alt in a group that knew what to do made a total difference.
In consolation, it is a hard one compared to most others. The explorable is easier, though there too it really helps to know what is going on.

Mordjinn.7385:

Now all of us hit lvl 35 and we thought it might be fun to get some challenge and head to the Ascalonian Catacombs.

I’m going to go out on a really small limb and guess that even though you hit 35, most of your gear is low 30s or even level 20s. And you probably only have one ring and one earring (the early quest rewards) since they almost never drop as loot. And you’re using the level 20s back item you got for joining an order.

The dungeons can be difficult for 4 level 80s fully outfitted in exotics. Scaled down, that’d be 4 level 35s using level 35 exotic armor, weapons, and jewelry. So it’s no surprise you had problems.

Unfortunately, the level scaling in the game means the problem will persist until you’re level 80 and upgrade to level 80 gear. So the easiest way to do what you want is to level to 80 and outfit yourselves with level 80 exotic gear (actually 78-80 will do).

If you really want to do it at your current level, you’re going to have to spend a small fortune upgrading your gear. I don’t think there are level 35 exotics, so you’ll need to buy level 35 rare armor and weapons. And when you pick up a few more levels you’re going to have to do it all over again. (If you’re level 40 and run the dungeon you’ll get scaled down to level 35, meaning the gear will be scaled down to about level 30.6.)

Sucks but that’s the way it is.

Hmmm…thanks for your answers. It seems that we’re against a real challenge. The only option for changing the group composition is me changing my warrior to an engineer (but I will only do this if we will benefit from the change as I have to level my engi up). So the thief stays

We’re now all lvl 42-46 and having better gear than on the first run in the AC. At least me and the other warrior built our characters more defensively when respeccing on 40. I wonder if that was wise…

We can get through the thrash mobs (slowly), but the real question is if the bosses are going to be a lot harder compared to the trash? The only “boss” we’ve encountered so far is the king’s guard on top of the centre “hill” after which the king told us to go and kill the champions. So is it getting harder from there on?

Thanks for taking the time to answer. We would prefer to do this 4man, but if nothing else helps we better find a fifth adventurer to help us out.

The hardest encounter in the dungeon, in practice, is probably Ralena and Vassar, the boss that’s actually two bosses and that is still ahead of you, yes. The basic idea is that the two are stronger when standing closer to each other so the party tries to separate them to mitigate this. There are various opinions on what tricks or tactics to use, such as throwing rocks or using the doors in a nearby corridor. The most important thing though, is group cohesion. If you try a trick and it doesn’t work, a group that stands its ground and concentrates on bringing the encounter under control can often find a way to do so.

Make sure you familiarise yourselves with the dungeon (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascalonian_Catacombs_%28story%29) and have a voice chat program like Ventrilo or Teamspeak if you aren’t already. These dungeons are balanced with the internet in mind.