Guild Wars 2

Willowfalls.9814:

No. I don’t want to listen to my armor clank around every time I move. Besides, how is a sound effect supposed to change the appearance of you wearing a onesie?

When you’re moving around it’ll help create the effect that it’s made of metal instead of snug fabric.

Actually after writing the OP I logged on and noticed there are sound effects, but obviously as I’ve only just noticed them, they’re far too subtle.

Heavy armor in particular, so that moving around in uniformly-colored ascended gear doesn’t look you’re wearing an elaborate onesie. It’d be a minor tweak with a very satisfying effect, I think.

Well that makes sense. Thanks.

I was away from this for a couple of years but was prompted to come back by the new expansion. Installed it, but can’t see it in the story tab. Strangely I can see Heart of Thorns, which I haven’t bought. Any ideas?
My only theory is that it’s because I haven’t finished the core game story, which is perhaps integral to the PoF one? Speaking of which, I was slightly miffed to get to the concluding chapter of season 2 only then to be asked to cough up 200 gems to finish it. I think it’s another 400 for season 3. Not sure I’m willing to pay this, having just paid full price for an expansion with no warning that I would need to be up to date with the story to access it. Assuming this is the case.

What class were you? 90 minute run and you were still in the third frac? That’s pretty shocking. Are you sure you weren’t a big factor in this?

lvl 29: No chest for me or anyone else. Many tears were shed.
My second frac after reset, the first one being lvl 50, for which I received a chest

I find it hard to believe it’s only for falling short of perfection that you’re being routinely kicked; everyone messes up now and again; as long as you apologize and make it clear you know what you did wrong, the vast majority of players will be understanding. Alternatively, make a group and advertise yourself as an inexperienced player, and you will end up with players who have a much higher tolerance threshold, albeit likely in proportion to how bad they are themselves.

What is definitely not a good idea is to bring back instance owners. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve mentally thanked Anet for patching them out. When my whole party but me rage quit in the Cliffside frac, because they couldn’t handle failing at the arm seals. Or when the opener turned out to be an elitist with delusions of grandeur 3/4 of the way through a fractal run, ignoring the strategy we all agreed on because his (unspoken) strategy was better, etc.

If you’re a decent player, both in terms of social conduct and competence, you really shouldn’t be getting kicked often, much less so often you’re drawn toward the tyranny of the instance owners.

Gunsnroll.2657:

If the boss has 5%, it’s hard to delay depending the boss. If you have eles for example, and aoe are in use, the boss will die, even if everyone stop.

Yeah, which is why I said it’s ‘most’ the OP could expect/hope for.

Basically the OP was very unlucky to D/C at just that moment. To think on this basis Anet should patch the game is a little bit…ridiculous.

Some very courteous people would’ve delayed killing the boss until your return. I think that is about the most you can expect anyone to do about your minor piece of bad luck.

DaveGan.8065:

It does not take me long to figure out if a player fits the post. If they do not, I usually ask them to leave as cordially as possible : “If you are not experienced, or do not know what AR is, or if you are not familiar with the dps meta, this group is not for you….drop pls”

Better to just kick, and make sure to do it early, if you’re going to do it at all.

Also, if you’re not addressing that line to a specific individual, it’ll feel like you’re addressing everyone in the group. With you being the source of the now-oppressive atmosphere, this is an extremely easy way to get 3-4 people eager to second that kick on you.

Finally, the lack of things like DPS meters and the persistence of the “zerker meta” (with a focus on the “zerker” rather than “meta”) has created a community of PuGs who feel validated by gear rather than execution or more specific elements. In other words, the only time they feel they should be tested is at the LFG filter keywords. Attempting to filter past that can be seen as excessively hostile and unnecessary.

In other words, you’re getting kicked because you’re putting people in “don’t-get-myself-kicked” mode. At some point, 2 or more of the group form the conclusion that the best shot they have of finishing the run is replacing you and carrying the weak link.

When you’re seen as oppressive, you no longer get the benefit of the doubt as a rational decision maker, and people fear that you will begin to scapegoat the cumulative errors of the run on their next small slip-up.

This is also why I try not to PuG, and when I do, I’ll put up a fairly tight LFG filter but will hardly ever try to enforce it on those who join.

Excellent post. Completely agree!
In my experience, PUGs are very tolerant and it takes a lot for someone to be kicked. You definitely need to examine your own behaviour if you are being kicked routinely.

Personally I like the Aetherblades path a lot. It’s a shame most PUGs for this comprise first-timers, so the ooze font can be a massive pain. However, if you have a group that’s willing to pay attention to instructions, it can be very satisfying to pull off. That’s what I like about the path as a whole: the sense of mastery you get from overcoming some of its tricky obstacles more and more efficiently.

kikojak.7051:

Now that i have calmed down and remembered the situation quite deeply i did say more things that were rude so the party got hesistant that im the one bringing the problems, since i whined the most .So that they would not have to deal with that they decided to kick me and also because that i am not familiar with meleeing the berserker only. So it was actually maybe 2 times or 1 that we failed instead of 3 i guess i started becoming impatient for some reason but anyway it was half my fault too but still kicking me on the last fractal was pretty childlish since when we went on my tactics we were actually owning the boss. Still the advice from this situation is keep your mouth shut.

Even if you were a little whiny and tactless, no one with any sense of decency should think that’s enough of a reason to kick you on the last kitten fractal.

Hate that fractal, especially the dolphin part. I only wish I could also roll past Snow blind.

Aetherblades, Fractals (except Jade Maw and Snowblind) and I have a soft spot for Caudecus’s Manor.

Chrisco.5732:

I’m writing this completely trying to not sound like an annoying person saying gimme gimme. But … I’ve been farming for the fractal mace for about 18 months now and while its been fun doing fractals. I now have about 300 pristine fractal relic saved up and still no mace.

Can we please, like super duper pretty please with a cherry on top, have a pristine relic npc that we can trade for the weapons. Whether its 100, 200, 300 heck! 500!!! can i just have some light at the end of the tunnel?

/Whinny rant over

These words must be heeded.

Not a bad dungeon except for whichever paths have the underwater final bosses, which are undoubtedly the worst in the game.

robertul.3679:

You obviously never had bugged generators.

I did for the first time yesterday, funnily enough. Very bloody annoying. I don’t think that detracts from the design of the dungeon though, which overall is really fun.

I watched the video recommended above and it seemed helpful, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Except for the oozes + gears part. Ugh. It’s just awful design. Every time I do it, it feels like a clumsy fluke. Anyone know of a good strategy?

Really, OP? Is it SO difficult to start a group and specify that it is for new/inexperienced players? You might not get people joining as quickly as with an exp group, but it’s perfectly viable still.

As for difficulty, yes, I’d agree some dungeons are maybe a little too punishing. But with youtube guides and/or a little perseverance, they’re really not that bad.

Sampo.9678:

bretfrag.5607:

The benefits would be massively outweighed by the inability to create and be relatively secure in your own group. When there’s so much kicking for stupid, arbitrary reasons in PUG groups, I feel I need the facility for making my own group from which players are strongly disincentivized from kicking me.

But then there’s still the party leaders that leave the party themself.
This week i was at the 4th fractal (Jade Maw) and this guy just goes like..
I go do tequatl with guild now bye.
And whole party got kicked from fractals…..

So be that guy yourself.

We need the option to kick players. But we also need an option for you to be more or less free from unfair kicking. The only thing to do is make your own group.

Darthaemos.6370:

bretfrag.5607:

Tree.3916:

You’re supposed to craft your armor and consider anything useful that drops as a bonus/cost savings.

Crafting armor was sapping my will to live. Thought Fractals would be a less painful alternative.

Running Fractals for an ascended set is like refusing to get a job and just playing the lottery so you can have a comfy retirement. Just run Fractals for the fun of it, and don’t ever expect anything good.

When I said ‘less paniful’, it’s cos I do more or less enjoy fractals. But there’s no denying that the rewards are out of proportion to the time and effort required to complete them.

The benefits would be massively outweighed by the inability to create and be relatively secure in your own group. When there’s so much kicking for stupid, arbitrary reasons in PUG groups, I feel I need the facility for making my own group from which players are strongly disincentivized from kicking me.

Tree.3916:

You’re supposed to craft your armor and consider anything useful that drops as a bonus/cost savings.

Crafting armor was sapping my will to live. Thought Fractals would be a less painful alternative.

I’ve played a kitten tonne of fractals and so far have acquired two pieces of armor. A third of the way to a full set; that’s not too bad right? Except the 2 pieces I have aren’t from the same set. One is a defender piece while the other is healer.
Realistically, even if I eventually get a full set of armor, there’s a vanishingly small chance of it being cohesive.
My question is: is this just how we’re expected to wear ascended armor? In other words, should we just make the best of what we’re lucky enough to find so we can do higher fractals? Cos if not, then I might as well not bother.

She’s certainly more difficult, but she’s far from impossible. A guard with aegis is of course helpful, and in general your team has to be vigilant about reviving downed players, because a wipe is never far away with the damage she’s doing.
I actually found the cannon salvo more difficult than Mai herself. Not sure if Anet have tweaked that or I was just having a bad day.

Ken DeBoer.9268:

The easiest method I’ve learned is to…. NOT STAND IN THE RED CIRCLES.

This guy knows.

The only thing that bugs me is that I argued in the group that the cannon strikes were random. It seems the consensus is that they aren’t. I suppose I would now qualify that, even if they’re not random, you can treat them as though they are i.e. just move to wherever there aren’t red circles and you’ll be fine. Sure, the first few times you do it, you’ll probably go down, but after a while it’s really pretty easy. I’d take Mai Trin over the Jade Monster any day.

Thanks for that.

One thing I don’t think you spoke to is whether, in the first version, there’s an order in which the party should run. In the group I was in I was berated for running at the front of the group. Then for the second attempt I stayed behind and got killed.

Personally I don’t see the need for either version. It’s just a case of dodging, running and staying still as required.
I also think the downside of the first version is pretty major, at least in a PUG group. The last thing you need is to have to concentrate on the strike rings and the direction you’re group is heading in. It just over-complicates things.

I was just kicked from this fractal supposedly because during the cannon assault, the way to avoid the strikes is to run in a group in a particular order, with the person who draws most agro behind everyone else, and I rejected this idea and the logic behind it.
I’m fractal level 36 and this is the first time I’ve every heard anything like this.
It is bulls**t right? I’ve always evaded the salvo easily enough just by, yknow, staying out of the red circles of death. As far as I’m aware there’s no pattern, and even if there were, you don’t need to learn what it is to avoid being hit. But in an exchange with the kicker I was told to go and find out on the internet, so here I am.

Thanks both. Yeah there’s no way I could forget the 3 hour ordeal that was path 4.
I had a look at some vids and think it must be path 2.

The last 5 runs, most of which were above lvl 30, yielded no ascended items. Not even garbage rings.

I have one path left to do in Arah before I get the Dungeon Master achievement but I can’t remember which I haven’t done. For some reason on the achievement screen the paths are referred to as tiers which don’t numerically correspond to the former. So I’ve done Story, paths 1 and 4 for definite, yet of tiers 1-5, I’ve done all except 5.

tl:dr: In the Arah dungeon, which path is Tier 5?

Thanks.

Enaretos.8079:

bretfrag.5607:

Got kicked a little while ago during a really bad fractal run. I whisphered the host for an explanation and was told my AP was too low. With my build I try to balance a fair amount of DPS with support, so I have in the region of 2k AP. Is that really too low? Tbh, I don’t know how I’d increase it without nerfing all the support aspects of my build, e.g. Purity of Voice.
Sorry for sort of derailing the thread.

I believe the host referred to your Achievements Points being too low, which is a rather inefficient way of filtering members. You are probably thinking he referred to your attack. In fractals as in all dungeons, there are better builds when your aim is for the run to be smooth and quick.

In such builds, support is achieved differently, please check them out

Ahh, Achievement Points: I always forget about them.
Indeed, a stupid metric.

Got kicked a little while ago during a really bad fractal run. I whisphered the host for an explanation and was told my AP was too low. With my build I try to balance a fair amount of DPS with support, so I have in the region of 2k AP. Is that really too low? Tbh, I don’t know how I’d increase it without nerfing all the support aspects of my build, e.g. Purity of Voice.
Sorry for sort of derailing the thread.

EcoRI.9273:

I am going to say yes it was your fault. You knew that wall would help but you didn’t bother using it. Here is a quote from you “I understand the temptation to pin the blame on one person to spare everyone else the anxiety of having their own performance looked at, as well as the trouble of analyzing what precisely went wrong,” micromanaging your traits and weaponset and utilities is part of performance. Now I wouldn’t kick you from my group because my mentality is “X dungeon is soloable, therefore I should be able to solo carry.” I won’t kick bearbows or thiefbows or staff guardians, but most people kick phyw.

As far as I’m concerned, I’m helping in other ways.

What is hunter/crusher?

Tree.3916:

Stooperdale.3560:

Players should be able to learn to play a class through playing the game. Kicking people for making mistakes while learning is not friendly.

It doesn’t sound like that is what was happening, though. The way the OP describes it, he was in a situation where he knew that WoR would be useful, but he didn’t use it because he is more concerned with the self-imposed RP considerations he has for his character. So who is the one who is be “unfriendly” here?

I don’t know where I’ve given that impression. I think I’ve said a couple of times that if I recognize the usefulness of WoR in a given situation, I’ll equip and use it. My point is that there shouldn’t be an obligation on a player to use a particular skill except in those very particular circumstances where it is virtually a necessity. Incidentally, I think there aren’t that many of these parts. Sorrow’s Embrace champs fight, yes. A couple of the paths in Caudecus’s Manor. I’m struggling to think of any in Fractals, though.
It’s pretty funny actually, since I made this thread, I’ve been equipping WoR and using it quite often, even when I fail to see the application for it, just to avoid the ignorant judgment that as a guardian, if I’m not using WoR at least once per fight, I’m not doing my job properly. I haven’t been kicked so far, but nor do I think I’m playing any better.

Only played it at a max level of 30 so I guess there’s room to hate it further still.
Mainly the issue for me is that for about 5 minutes you barely need to be paying attention.

If I think there’s utility in using it, I will. I just don’t think not using it should be an automatic kickable offense.

The part where you’re closed in in that square and the little freak subjects you to attacks so weak they’re not even worth the trouble of evading? It goes on for too long and it’s boring. Think Anet should re-design it.

Whenever a wipe occurs, I understand the temptation to pin the blame on one person to spare everyone else the anxiety of having their own performance looked at, as well as the trouble of analyzing what precisely went wrong, and that someone is almost always the guardian. More often than not, when the guardian’s blamed, he’s instantly kicked with no explanation offered. Usually if any qualifying information prefaces the kick, it’s ‘use wall’.

Now I know in some situations, e.g. the 3 champs before the final boss in Sorrow’s Embrace, a wall is near enough mandatory. There are others where the wall might be preferable for some players and their preferred strategy, but in my opinion it’s not appropriate to insist that another player accommodate that preference in their skill set, on pain of being booted from the group. One of the reasons I like this game so much more than WoW is the flexibility it allows in build selection and styles of play.
For my own part, I don’t like equipping WOR except in situations like the one above where it’s so useful as to be almost necessary. It jars against the rest of my build and the way I like to play. But way too often after a wipe someone says ‘guard, wall’, I begin thinking of a way to politely explain that I don’t like to use it before I’m kicked a few seconds later. No discussion. No alternatives considered. In many cases the player has failed to understand that the wall is only effective against projectiles and isn’t a general protective shield. Instead, the simplistic thinking is: A wipe occurred, there’s a guardian who could’ve used wall but didn’t, he must be the cause and therefore he’s out.
Don’t like this attitude. Am I alone??!!

Oh yes, sorry. Missed that.

Try rolling back your graphics driver.

My latest Nvidea driver made GW2 and a number of games barely playable. Rolling back solved the issue.

You might want to try rolling back your drivers. I did it yesterday and it’s running fine now.

Said it before but I’ll say it again: I’ve also encountered a massive drop in performance in the past few weeks – like the OP, I had been running it very comfortably on high settings. Now it’s only playable on low. I have an Nnvidia 680m.
I’ve tried all suggestions here. I’m running games like Watch_Dogs on ultra with no performance issues, so I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with my hardware.

No crashes here (so far) but absolutely intolerable drop in performance since last patch. Can only run on the lowest settings, whereas before was cruising on high. Would REALLY appreciate a response from Anet about this.
I’m running NVIDIA Geforce 680m.

Not only have FPS dropped from 50-60 to 15-25 ( even lower in dungeons) but the loading time from game client to character selection screen has massively increased. I have an SSD and the game used to load nearly instantly, but now it takes about a minute.

In game, I can get it running smoothly if I scale everything down to low settings and have it looking sub-WoW, but of course this is not ideal.

My GPU is Geforce 680m.

I had this running very comfortably on high settings before the latest series of updates (hadn’t played this in about a week).

Hi all,

I’ve been doing the fractals and reached level 10 so I understand I’ll soon have to be thinking about Agony Resistance. Naturally I have about 60 +1 infusions from loot drops, and I have an ascended ring and sword with unused infusion slots. I just don’t know how to combine them, or if they can’t be combined, why the hell this is. I’ve looked on the trading post for other infusions, thinking perhaps I had the wrong type, but apparently there is only one type available on the TP.
This is a rare instance of the GW2 wiki proving completely unhelpful, and no one I ask in my guild or the game world is able to enlighten me.
A really basic, jargon-free breakdown of how infusing ascended gear works would be massively appreciated.
Thank you.