Guild Wars 2

panzer.6034:

Why are people who can’t finish tier 4 acting like the whole game is ruined because they can’t get one achievement? Should every achievement be automatically easy for every player?

There is a difference between easy and impossible. And I’m not using the word ‘impossible’ lightly. There is no way T4 was play tested in its current state.

1. This thread shows that a there a number of people who have solo’ed it.

2. Not every piece of content needs to be toned down so that every player can do with without a challenge.

3. It’s only one achievement. The game won’t be wrecked if some people can’t get one achievement.

panzer.6034:

1. This thread shows that a there a number of people who have solo’ed it.

2. Not every piece of content needs to be toned down so that every player can do with without a challenge.

3. It’s only one achievement. The game won’t be wrecked if some people can’t get one achievement.

1. It WAS easily solo’ed before the patch hit. I was able to easily solo Evon’s T4 no problem. Keil’s T4 after the patch is impossible. The patch killed the ability to solo it.

2. While true, it should be realistically attainable. In its current state it is almost quite literally impossible.

3. Again, this is true. However, the way it was originally set up it seemed to be one of the ‘easier’ achievements to complete the meta. Additionally, while it isn’t necessary, after the release of achievement chests people are naturally going to want to acquire achievement points. This achievement awards 10, an amount that shouldn’t be scoffed at.

Okay Jumped on here to check and sure as. Was no problem to solo before but I logged back on to do Kiel T4. Something definitely changed. Now the vets all pull, away from the treasure and come to spawn. Not impossible but seems more difficult

After thinking about it, I realize the achievements is actually confusing people, including me, on what is more important regarding the trials.

The trials’ event reward (bronze, silver, gold) is based on how many Aetherblades are killed and more you kill, the more loot you get, even if you fail.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the most valuable prize from the trials are the Aetherblade weapon skins right? So the real goal when doing the trials should be just kill everything you see, so you can get more loot, for more chance at getting the skins.

Hi

I tried the T4 about 5 hours ago
I hate to read guides/watch videos or stuff like that, i just want to do everything on my own
So I tried it for 1 hour
I failed everytime @4min mark and asked a friend to give me some tips
He plays mesmer like me, so i took the same build like he did and bought new armor + runes for ~40gold
I tried it 2 more hours and failed again and again @4min mark
My guildmembers told me they soloed it easy, so i felt like the dumbest guy in this game
I got so frustrated and angry, i never felt like that because of a game

I did some research now, and all the ‘cool’ guys who got the achievement did it on easy mode
With the last hotfix it got rlyyyyy hard, way harder then all content i have seen before in gw2

I think this will be the first achievement i cant get

greetings from germany

Just wasted 1 and a half hour on this T4 crap

We tried all sorts of strategy from just targeting plunderer at spawn spot to zerg rushing and killing as much mobs as possible using different combination of character. Warrios , mesmers, guardians etc, with nourishments

The trash mobs has tons of hp. Even with full berzerker warrior build, a 25k dmg 100blades only take off like 15~20% of its total hp. And at about 4 mins time, we got zerg rush by about 12+ of these trash mobs, on top of that bombarded by mortars

Best time we ever achieve is 2 mins plus

I solo-ed all the way with a mediocre DPS dmg warrior from T1 to T3 easily but T4, honestly it seems impossible at this stage

Then we heard how people solo-ed it easily, something must’ve changed during the last patch then

If you’re putting up such difficult at lvl40 FoTm it seems more reasonable, but not for a monthly event achievement ArenaNet

@panzer The whole game isn’t ruined; however, some of us have a completionist mindset, which has only been encouraged with the recent addition of reward chests for AP’s. Those chests and the leaderboards make one think that ANet wants you to get and chase AP’s.
So when they add content that is insanely hard, it makes the game very un-fun. I played through a dozen matches of the Aspect mini-game earlier trying to get one lousy kill of a crystal carrier.
Ravious over at Kill Ten Rats actually wrote a good blog about this the other day… When GW2 came out, it was touted as “play your way” with open world and no set Holy Trinity roles. However, with the time-boxed updates and achievements, it no longer feels that way for many players. It’s now “OMG, I have 14 days to get this achievement or it’s gone for good.” There’s pressure (however self-imposed) to play Aspect Arena — not to win or to have fun — but to get the kitten kills of the crystal carriers. That’s just not fun. And for casual players who only get 30 minutes here or there — the message ANet is sending to them is that “if you can’t devote hours to our game, then just don’t bother playing”.

This is simply impossible to do with a group IME. I just gave it up completely.

I have attempted this more than 20 times. A bunch of different groups, changing strategies, using food, etc, nothing works. I honestly think it’s down to luck, not skill. When you consider how difficult completing it is, just imagine trying to get the gold (50 kills) event completion? Has this event even been tested!? Who the kitten can get do that? Robots?

The groups are made up of the people who failed on there own. Use a full zerker build and retreat to shred agro. Know the 3 plunderer spawn points. I camp on top of the initial spawn point and spam auto attack, you shouldn’t even have to use another skill there.

Learn the pattern. The initial spawn @ 8min then alittle less than 30 secs after that. At 5:30 mins the second far spawn point begins spawn. I use my thief utility pull there, you might consider letting that 2nd spawn go the first time and he spawns initially in a group. At 3:00 mins the 3rd point point comes into play.

Personally I found the thief the best with the utility and spamable interrupts headshot or pistolwhip and catch the plunderers on the return trip (interrupts after a couples of seconds of them unloading there goods.

The simple fact is they patched it about 5 hours ago and its now impossible. The END

I don’t know how QA actually thought this ‘fix’ actually helped. I’d like to see how someone from the Anet staff finish t4 now.

The bigger point that’s not been touched on in this thread is that even though this is possible for some players, it’s fun for hardly any.

I haven’t seen a single bit of feedback on the lines of “thanks Anet for Candidate Trials – it’s so fun!”. Just relief and smugness from some who’ve done it, and stress and pressure from those who haven’t.

These really aren’t the emotions you want your videogame to provoke in your community.

Well to all the whiners about how it’s impossible now, I just finished it with a 3 man group on t4.

Lafiel.9372:

Well to all the whiners about how it’s impossible now, I just finished it with a 3 man group on t4.

Instead of gloating, how about you say how you did it? Group setup? Strategies?

Azraeel.1238:

Lafiel.9372:

Well to all the whiners about how it’s impossible now, I just finished it with a 3 man group on t4.

Instead of gloating, how about you say how you did it? Group setup? Strategies?

s/p theif spamming stun on the left spawn, locking that spawn down. everyone else use pulls (engi/thief/necro) on the right spawn to the back rock and dps them down. run behind rock if you draw aggro.

ez

Suggestion for 4 man group. 2 rifle zerker specked warriors with bolas and fear me and 2 necros kiting and spamming fear me in alernation to keep any incoming mobs away. Just stand near the mortars. Should be easy peasy.

My strategy how to solo T4. Only left spawn working, a right one doesn’t spawn plunderers. Follow annotations on my video.

Revoltion.9614:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_IHW2-AZ7U

My strategy how to solo T4. Only left spawn working, a right one doesn’t spawn plunderers. Follow annotations on my video.

The ability to do this was ‘fixed’ in the patch. The other two spawn points now spawn plunderers.

Well, didn’t read last patch note. Anyway I’m glad I’ve done this before a fix.

We did this (withouth any tricks) after 3 tries with a random guild group.
I considered it fun, as well as my group did.

T3 and T4 aren’t made to be farmed thought …

This is a message directed at any developer. Please explain us how we are supposed todo the Ellen T4? With the “fix” of last night it became impossible. I’ve ran with multiple groups, duo’s and solo. I cannot get past 2 minutes left on the timer.

So either show us how it is supposed to be done, or fix this. Because it’s obviously broken.
The people who did it probably used the bug of yesterday.

So should I even bother with this content or should I just wait for a patch which nerfs this? If any developer could actually do this content either solo or in a group, I would be very suprised(looking at their livestreams, I don’t think they would survive a minute..)

So can we get any word of Arenanet on this? I know T4 is supposed to be hard, but it would be a huge design flaw if the only way todo it is by resetting mobs…

EDIT: I don’t think I lack experience in GW2, i’ve done every dungeon, event, fractals up to lv30 and run Arah without any pain. But this is the hardest content I’ve ever faced.

Can you explain what the bug was?

The fix was to add even more add spawns ^^;

There was a bug where if you let a certain event happen no more veterans would spawn and all you had to deal with was 2 veterans and a plunderer spawning regularly. Making it kitten easy and boring to do.

Some people may have thought it was easy, but for some the challenge was just within their capabilities. I consider myself an above average player, and for me 3-4 were tricky even with a spawn not activating. Experiences may vary with different classes/builds as well. Talking about solo here.

It was fun before IMO, now it’s incredibly hard. Can’t get past 3 solo, and no one else wants to do it because they’ve already run it. This experience just reminds me of the old saying:

“Exploit early. Exploit often.”

Makes much more sense now.

Agreed, I need to be earlier with the exploits as well. I finally did T4 on Kiel, then did T4 and T3 on Evon, always managing 2 plunder spawn points active. Of course the Evon achievement bugged and I didn’t get credit for the achievement (even though I clearly completed both T3 and T4). Now there are 3 plunderers spawning with even more veterans that come to follow you up to the armor repair. Sorry for my whining, but this does tick me off quite hard.

So yeah, lesson for the future: learn any exploits early on and be rewarded for it ^^

*waiting for anet video where they show how to do this…….

You are assuming everyone used the exploit to finish it which is wrong i know i didn’t.

tom.7468:

You are assuming everyone used the exploit to finish it which is wrong i know i didn’t.

Most people did.

Anyway I’ve just passed T4 Evon with a new buid. Basicly it’s berserker… which makes me sad. Lets go Kiel now.

My main issue with it is that it isn’t hard its punishing in that one mistake, or even no mistakes, can cost you all. It is too much, too random. There doesn’t really seem to be a strategy or timing that one can learn to make for a sure win. The veterans are too tough to take down in the 30 seconds between runners and their health scales up too rapidly to justify taking multiple characters. Leaving you with an army of unbeatable, ever stunning, ever confusing, ever disabling mobs. There comes a point where there’s so many conditions you might as well just take your hands off the keyboard and just die.

There are several ways in which this can be adjusted to be made doable. I just hope it will actually be picked up upon.

I can understand if you want this content done in groups, but even coordinated groups are just getting overhelmed doing this overly difficult challenge.

I’m all for introducing challenging content, but there comes a point where you look at the way this event works and you can tell it’s just lazy game design.

Rule #1 of Game Design: If people need to exploit your games mechanics to overcome your challenges, You’re doing it wrong.

I suggest people bring this subject to light, with as many threads as possible.

Alright. So far this is the only way todo it.. Although if you make a mistake, you’re dead.

I’ve done this as a guardian berserker build, using my scepter mostly.

Thanks to this guy for showing me a good way to solo it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETCj0Tsj1AI

Remz.9083:

Alright. So far this is the only way todo it.. Although if you make a mistake, you’re dead.

I’ve done this as a guardian berserker build, using my scepter mostly.

Thanks to this guy for showing me a good way to solo it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETCj0Tsj1AI

-1 not sure all classes can stunlock and 2 shot mobs at the same time….

I mean, I don’t think it’s impossible. But for goodness sakes it’s not for your casual gamer. You’d have to bring classes that can pull and dps. And what’s the point of all those spawns if we weren’t meant to fight them? If the strat was to hide and pull, then why even make so many enemies spawn? Might as well put a few champions or something. If they wanted us to actually fight them, my full zerked out warrior or zerked out thief should be able to take down these guys faster than 1 minute. o_o So all in all, do-able but you definitely have to work for it but it’s poorly designed. You could say hiding and deaggroing is an exploit too given what the game type is about.

They really should show Anet devs or QA testers completing some of these things so we know it’s possible. I doubt a regular anet dev can actually do this.

wolfie.7296:

Remz.9083:

Alright. So far this is the only way todo it.. Although if you make a mistake, you’re dead.

I’ve done this as a guardian berserker build, using my scepter mostly.

Thanks to this guy for showing me a good way to solo it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETCj0Tsj1AI

-1 not sure all classes can stunlock and 2 shot mobs at the same time….

they can’t. I’ve spent close to a day trying T4 yesterday and had another few attempts today. (phantasm mesmer (zerker) and steal(th) thief (zerker), not buying another set of gear on my other 80s just to have a weak shot at it)

tom.7468:

Direksone.3867:

So when are we getting a nerf for this?

Never. i finished so its possible.

II think he meant that it should be nerfed when there is more than one person. Right now it’s incredibly easy to solo, but much harder with one person. It increases with difficulty because of the lazy “more hp, more damage” philosophy that Anet seems to have adopted from WoW>

GSSBlunaspike.4153:

tom.7468:

Direksone.3867:

So when are we getting a nerf for this?

Never. i finished so its possible.

II think he meant that it should be nerfed when there is more than one person. Right now it’s incredibly easy to solo, but much harder with one person. It increases with difficulty because of the lazy “more hp, more damage” philosophy that Anet seems to have adopted from WoW>

They changed it last night I hear. Solo it today and come back and say it is easy. Perhaps it still is. I don’t know.

That’s not fair.
Many people done Trials with exploits and now it’s “fixed”.
Bring back trials to it’s previous state so all players have chances to do them. They’re extremely hard to do.

Okay everyone, I just manage to do this post patch with a solo war.

Now i’m not going to be a jerk and say it was easy because it wasn’t and i’m pretty sure anet did not test this properly.

The basic idea is pretty much the same as some of the zerk warrior videos but you just have to be EXTREMELY careful. It is COMPLETELY possible to do this without aggroing a SINGLE mob.

I didn’t video my attempt but i’ll try give some pretty key tips:

First thing, starting position:

You start off on the left side where the first 6 plunders spawn. With a warrior using either 100b and a few auto atks and maybe a rifle you should be able to burst them down pretty quick. While doing this, one of two vet mobs may spawn out depending on your chance so it is vital that you stay as far as possible from them as you can.

Usually where the plunder spawns on the left side is SOMEWHAT safe but don’t count on it.

Okay, now when the right plunder (the first one) spawns. DONT go for it straight away. Almost ALWAYS wait for it to run back. The key is to time it JUST right so that when you use your rifle skill 3 and finish off with 100b you DON’T aggro any mobs. The plunder has maybe 2 seconds it linders BEFORE it triggers the loot being dropped, so it should give you plenty of time to pull of a 100b to stop him from lowering your loot count thingy.

Right and left plunder after awhile should be pretty easy, occasional strikers will spawn, make sure you DON’T aggro them. if you do don’t worry, just run as far back as you can WELLL out of range. DON’T cut it short by going maybe here is enough, rather lose the 500, make sure the striker is running it’s way back and quickly come bak and catch up to your plunders. Ideally, if done right, you shouldn’t pull any mobs. The spawn rate is somewhat random so sometimes you can get a bad spawn wher a striker or grenadier kinda lingers at the right plunder and you have to go for the kill and quickly run back. Okay, when the 3rd plunder spawns, this is where things get a bit tricky, it’s totally possible to kill all 3 but sometimes at least one of the spawns become seemingly impossible to get to. This is usually the right one, you should have at least 2000 points left at this stage and well under 2 minutes. So the plan is again, to kill either the left or middle one and let one of them run there and back. During that time, you should be able to pick off the right one safely. After you’ve done that, the middle one should be almost back and you can pick him off too. Rinse and repeat until finished. near the end it get’s a bit nerve wrecking, if you’re around 30 seconds, you can be slightly reckless if you wish, the skills I chose to use was dolyak signet signet of might and throw bolas. The food I recommend is crit and power food with sigils of force.

What I usually recommend doing is pull out rifle use skill 3 then immediately change to GS and kill with 100b.

Good luck everyone, if I have time i’ll try to make video of what i’m talking about but seriously, I think the scale rate needs to be fixed. You know there is something seriously off when it is easier to do something solo then with a coordinated group. Anet needs to employ me as an advisor.

It’s not easy, i wasted some significant time trying to solo it yesterday. I don’t want to be too quick to say it’s impossible (at least for solo), but it might be.

Right now, it’s easier to do it solo and with a thief or warrior than with a group.

Tip: it’s possible to do it without aggroing anything.

Excalibur.9748:

It’s not easy, i wasted some significant time trying to solo it yesterday. I don’t want to be too quick to say it’s impossible (at least for solo), but it might be.

I can’t tell if you are being serious or not…but when they say solo, what they mean is solo by the spawn points. They don’t kill anything but the plunderers.

ghettogenius.9174:

Some people may have thought it was easy, but for some the challenge was just within their capabilities. I consider myself an above average player, and for me 3-4 were tricky even with a spawn not activating. Experiences may vary with different classes/builds as well. Talking about solo here.

It was fun before IMO, now it’s incredibly hard. Can’t get past 3 solo, and no one else wants to do it because they’ve already run it. This experience just reminds me of the old saying:

“Exploit early. Exploit often.”

Makes much more sense now.

Pretty much the only reason I do all the achievements on day1 because anet is notorious for making things more difficult the day after. Not sure how anet changed this 1 though

Topher.1684:

Excalibur.9748:

It’s not easy, i wasted some significant time trying to solo it yesterday. I don’t want to be too quick to say it’s impossible (at least for solo), but it might be.

I can’t tell if you are being serious or not…but when they say solo, what they mean is solo by the spawn points. They don’t kill anything but the plunderers.

I know….. I have guides posted on how to solo it on T4 with 2 different methods:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Guide-for-candidate-trials-challenge/first#post2500525

They buffed it yesterday and NOW I think it’s very hard-impossible. Not sure if still possible to solo.

Lafiel.9372:

advisor.

what about every other class. can’t put down enough cc and dmg without it running into range of mobs and agros. the only way you can do it is to have a class that can instagib+stunlock at the same time.

I don’t know of anyone who beat it legit the way it’s suposed to be done: going in, killing the bad guys who steal treassure and killing and/or enduring the rest of mobs, attempting to do that results in failed event and armor repairs, the only way to do it before the patch had nothign to do with tactics, your skill with your character, your knowledge of combos, build you used or party composition, all of those only decided how soon your party wiped. To succeed you had to exploit AI flaws and event scripts to make it cake easy that’s not being good or skilled at GW2 that’s being gamey. After patch it is the same, only being gamey is harder.

Does this game need difficult content? YES
Is this the right type of difficulty?? NOPE

I played GW1 for years, when DoA came out almost no one could beat it and those who did needed litrally hours to do just one out of 4 zones, later all 4 were done in 1 hour with better builds. But the difficulty wasn’t solved by jumping over edges, making mobs stupidity clear or abusing scripts, it was overcome with a few great team builds and tactics, that’s the kind of difficulty I want, not having to study the underlaying scripts of of a challenge to abuse the AI.

And yes I did both T4s before patch, my understanding for all those who have been caught by the “fix”, and I use the word “fix” loosely.

Well people have about a week to do this and there’s no incentive to farm it so you will likely not have people trying to refine builds.

Remz.9083:

Alright. So far this is the only way todo it.. Although if you make a mistake, you’re dead.

I’ve done this as a guardian berserker build, using my scepter mostly.

Thanks to this guy for showing me a good way to solo it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETCj0Tsj1AI

Used this tactic and its legit, worked well with my thief