Guild Wars 2

Hey, I’m a level 73 Thief on the Tarnished Coast server, I just got into the straits of devastation, and I am so confused. There are no hearts, no people, and almost no events (In three hours of walking around the zone, I found only one event, but it was a group event, and I was the only person) Also, everything is so much harder. I’ve never had so much trouble taking out mobs before. If there’s no hearts, and no events, what am I supposed to do? Am I missing something?

The Orr areas work differently I find. The goal of them in a sense is to group events that open up waypoints across the map. Story quests are also prevalent here, in that all the stories converge in Orr.

However, very few people now come to the Orr regions since (in my experience) loot drops are not profitable here compared to other areas of the game (ex. fractals of the mists dungeons, other dungeons). This makes it difficult to explore the Orr areas.

Sorry there isn’t many people around to help you.

Orr is designed as end game area’s. So they decided to not put hearts there. There are a lot of dynamic events there. but they are indeed rather hard.

You can do map completion by visiting all PoI’s, vista’s, skillpoints, and waypoints. Wich is very doable without people around. The rewards for mapcompletion are better then lower level area’s.

Orr is currently deserted for several reasons.
a: there is a lot of different end game content with e.g. fractal, WvW and dungeon’s. So people are doing different things and Orr isn’t very popular cause of the difficultylevel vs amount of rewards.
b: Christmass. A lot of famillymembers and friends recieved a copy of GW2 for christmass. Many experienced people are helping there friends family members in starter area’s
c: holliday’s. many people are away from their computer for a few days.

My advise: Go to frostgorge sound. It is also for level 70-80, but it has hearts.
Come back to Orr in a week or two.

straits is completely doable solo, but it is challenging. if you paid attention even a little bit to the story or to the scouts they tell you what is going on. there are three paths one north, one middle, one south that all will lead further into orr. they all are a serious of dynamic events one after the other. obviously there are situations that you cant do completely alone such at the temple of balthazar events, but you can at least explore in ward. it wont be easy and it’s not meant to be. remember that after each of the dynamic events is successful on the three paths to attack into orr a karma vendor will open up allowing you to get some level appropriate gear as well

Die…alot…then give up and start lfg’ing for fractals/other dungeons…

The zergs passed through long, long ago…the risen didn’t stand a chance in those days but now they rule…

The Orr areas are definitely set up differently from the rest of the game. The mobs are more dense, they CC (annoyingly often), and they seemingly aggro from miles away. The repetitive vocal tracks make it even better! “Death, good!” Honestly, my suggestion is to do map completion in Orr and then move back into the areas of the game that are actually fun to play.

Personal opinion aside, the key is being careful and taking your time. Running through Orr is difficult because of all of the CC and large aggro ranges. You can complete all three zones solo, but it’s going to take more patience than most zones require.

Ok, so you are a Thief. I was a Thief and I had no issues with Orr solo.

So my question to you is:

1. What is your weapon set you use? If it isn’t S/P, you are doing it wrong. Black Powder + Pistol Whip means dead mobs that can’t hit you.
2. What is your build? Pow/Pre is where you should be.
3. What is your gear like? If you have greens and blues, then you are in for a bad time.

Have you completed Frostgorge Sound? If not, I recommend going there before tackling Straits. I think I did the bits needed for my personal story, but waited until I was level 80 before completing the Orr maps. It’s doable, just wasn’t my idea of fun.

What Jinx said. After a week in Orr I was delighted to find a non-zombie zone. It’s spectacularly beautiful too. You can access it directly by going north in the Norn starter area .. there’s a path in the mountains that leads into Frostgorge.

Syrele: “What am I supposed to do in Orr?”

Risen Subjugator: “Return. Die.”

As other have suggested, complete all other map areas before going into Orr. Oh, make sure you have exotic armour and weapons before starting your Orr map completions. I solo’ed a glass cannon ranger through all the Orr maps, so it is doable.

As a high-level thief you should not have any probs, you have all the stealth to by-pass most of the mobs. Once you get into Malchor’s Leap and Cursed Shore, you will find the mats and loot drops in ML and CS are still good and well worth the time. SoD is not so popular cos it is lower level and there are no high level harvest nodes.

I farm both ML and CS on a regular basis, and find others around, so it is not void of players on my server.

Explore, be careful and always have an escape path.

I’ve leveled 3 characters through Orr maps and had a blast doing it. Is it more difficult? YES! Is it frustrating at times? YES! Was it fun? A very subjective YES!

I also play on TC and I have never had to do any event solo and I just leveled 3 professions through there in the last week. (Thief, Ranger, Necro). Some of the DE I have done I was 2+ levels below the event mobs, but with a group, it was never a problem, a challenge, but not a problem.

But, like mentioned, FSG is a much friendlier place and free of the undead who seem to drink a ton of 5 hour energy.

<- Elementalist, regularly solos Orr in rare/masterwork gear and recently soloed Cursed Shore map completion. Has seen thieves, mesmers, and rangers also running through Orr alone.

Soloing Orr is difficult and frustrating at times, but definitely doable- it’s not so much about top-tier gear as it is about practice, observation, and persistence. As the poster above said, move slowly and clear mobs out a few at a time- pay attention to what each type of Risen does. Overall, don’t be afraid to run if you get in over your head.

About why the maps are the way they are- Orr is essentially enemy territory, the stronghold of the Risen, and is neither static nor safe. The maps are about running from one safe area to the next and pushing forward in groups, capturing one contested waypoint at a time. Hearts in the area would be out-of-place and likely redundant- they would involve struggling through several dozen Risen to click on something, or just killing several dozen Risen, over and over.

There’s also the added factor of the five temples (and Arah). These locations will usually be under Risen control. Each has a meta event devoted to opening them to Pact control- if their event chains are successfully completed, waypoints in the area will become uncontested, karma vendors who sell exotic gear and runes will become available, statues of the respective god around Orr (which attack nearby players) will go dormant, and, in the case of Arah, the last dungeon will become available. It should be noted that these event chains are often very difficult- numbers help, but won’t be enough if those involved don’t know what to do. I’ve seen about 20+ people fail Balthazar, but have also heard of lone guild parties clearing the same chain.

I’ll agree that things are better once you get to Malchor’s Leap and Cursed Shore, where the loot/karma rewards are better. Some events will be deserted, but people will usually come help if you ask in map chat. Otherwise, it’s a matter of moving from one profitable event chain to another, or from one resource node to another, or helping with temples/Arah. Though yeah, there are nicer places to roam around in.

Overall, it’s… different, and overwhelming at first, but definitely doable. If you need help getting through, feel free to shoot me a PM (Falkra, also a TC player) and I’ll come lend a hand.