Guild Wars 2

There was another comment about decreased LFGs for AC in GW2LFG. Is that the silent majority voting with their feet? Once the novelty wears off, ie 1 or 2 runs, expect even more AC attrition from the low level groups. Farmers and levellers will go on doing their biz there, new mechanics or not.

Hardselling the new AC isnt going to work.

censual seduction.6345:

3. I like teamwork, but I think Anet should focus on keeping people from “skipping” encounters. especially Kholer, which would have made the dungeon fair to people who are not there just for the “end tokens”. This makes pug groups less cooperative since they can have thier own agenda going in.

Yeah we do dungeons for the thrill and fun of killing trash mobs. Fair enough if you are a low level group having difficulty by skipping, but then again with the new mechanics the trash mobs becoming even more challenging for said groups.

Sleel.8365:

I said you lvl 35 group. Not lvl 35 thief being carried by his buddies who aren’t.

You have to ask how often he got rezzed while not being in stealth. Seriously its players like these that make me want to stop playing GW2 and ANet actually considering their input doesnt help either.

Levistis.8356:

Dang, people who use this sure are defensive; do you find finding safe spots fun and exciting? Do you really believe that using a consumable item to MAKE A BOSS COMPLETELY DEFENSELESS is not an exploit? And what’s with this “Oh all warriors/guards?” I ran a 65 ele in the dungeon. The 2 guardians and 1 warrior were to focused on cheesing the fight to face tank anything, which I assure you they could not do. Also, I run thief/necro in a lot of dungeons and have no need to cheese fights.

If they aren’t cheesing the encounter, they would be tanking / DPSing it. Class imbalance with regards to certain dungeons make it hard for casual / inexperienced players. A necro in AC is survivable, but really not fun since you have long CD break stuns etc. And one more time, AC is the starter dungeon for people to L2P.

As for eliminating much of the player base, I am sure that is exactly what some people want if this didn’t shut down GW2 , which is why they keep posting stuff like “pls make all dungeons harder” and “omg, ppl are cheesing/cheating at a video game”.

HOTW is the easiest. P2 and P3 are too long without warriors though.

Halo.8976:

Try to suggest to kill everything and you’ll just get kicked.

Vice versa too. No u wont get kicked, just ignored.

Gelltor.3015:

But yeah,path 1 really needs a buff,a level 75 dungeon should not be easier than a level 35 one.

AC shouldnt have been buffed (it is a starter lvl 35 dungeon, tokens cannot be exchanged for rares that can be salvaged for ectos), just tweaked and COF 1 should been buffed to prevent 4xwarrior 1 mesmer. Yes I took part in these as well, but I never enforced gear check or took part in parties with those requirements + if u dont run 6 min runs, u get kicked etc and honestly the money is fantastic.

Zeid Valentine.2603:

How about you start by killing everything in the path as it was intended, instead of just running past it? I know right? crazy idea but it might just make it more difficult to do in 10-15min…
Its so ironic that you complain that its so easy and the examples you make make use of unintended game play mechanics.
Go be a running hero in some harder dungeon if this is not your cup of tea please.

No, its EASIER if you did that, just takes longer. Your post validates why I really detest rabid anti skippers ie they are simply irrational and don’t understand the difference between grind and fun. Some might have not even L2Ped yet.

Cheesing the game is wrong. Lets all run guardians and face tank 90% of all fights.

Anet may now consider a nerf to mesmer portal, thanks to some people’s concerns about exploitation of GW2 dungeons and bosses. Goodbye to COF 1 Speed runs and easy Swamp mode.

I have an idea: lets nerf warrior damage since a lot of people are complaining about it too. I am sure that OP and others in this thread will agree.

I hit lvl 35. Although I am serious, I believe if I posted on gw2lfg.com, I seriously doubt anyone will respond to lfg 35-50 ac p3 for example. Btw my alt is an ele. I will give it a shot in a few hrs time.

I am in the process of levelling my alt (lvl 33 atm) give me a few hrs to lvl to 35. I just want to see whether can it be done with a party of all low levels (35-40) or is it just a suicide run.

At least Loflux and Deathpanel are being honest here. If you strongly agree with their gaming philosophy (imho they are very consistent in other threads as well), add them to your contacts list and run dungeons with them.

Zogyark.4597:

Necro on console, plague+F, win.

Err no dredge are immune to blind.

And

Khal Drogo.9631:

I love it when people say they cleared lvl 38 post patch dredge but never say what their party composition is or whether they were in a PUG.

Back to my example of 5 warrior parties at lvl 38, I believe that a skilled party (PUG or not) could do Lava Shaman whilst it not being an ideal situation especially with soldier runes. I really want to see a video of a 5 warrior party clearing this, even if some are support builds. Of course being 1337s no consumable use allowed at all, except possibly for food especially now that food life steal has nerfed.

Axe + Skale Venom = more stacks of vulnerabilty + perma weakness if traited with http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Withering_Precision

I am specced 30/30/0/0/10 and with just gear change and changes to the major traits,I go from power to condition and vice versa on the fly in dungeons.

Usually I go power when the trash mobs are relatively low hp and are numerous (which is the case in most dungeons) OR there is another condi build in the party who can stack 15-20 bleeds on their own who most likely is unable to change their build quickly.

Whatever you think about the mods on the official forums, the game’s overall structure and focus, the dungeon mechanics and design, class balance, bugs and etc, you have to agree one thing: the artwork and animation in this game is good and quite beautiful to look at.

In fact its the primary reason why I am still grinding in this game.

1) At best a Meh from me. Interesting bosses? Not really. In fact they have gotten easier in P1 and P3 provided the NPCs are kept alive. Nice animation of hyperbeam laser though.
2) I want my kittening FPS back.
3) The new AC disadvantages lvl 35s in their starter dungeon especially path 2 and perma knockdown from the many mobs.

Summary for the fanbois and shills.

No more infractions please, GW2 is the best MMORPG of all time. There are no flaws in the game whatsoever, the Mods in the official forums are most tolerant guys ever.

Lafiel.9372:

You are obviously exaggerating as many complainers do. As mention above, if you really wanted to complete an event, just be there slightly ahead of time instead of last minute. As for the lag, turn down the settings or get a better computer. My home server is SoS and yes there has been a significant FPS drop but I would hardly call it unplayable or at least not enough to acquire a tag for the event. Also, if you don’t practice what you call as leeching, then you shouldn’t make statements which aren’t true.

Not really, it gets to the point where u cant even use a skill because of the server lag. I dont give 2 hoots about dragon events since I never gotten an exotic from it b4 the hundreds of times I looted their chests.

I guest for three reasons:
1) Mining nodes that are close together on a particular server. If that server has a non over populated group event at the time eg Claw of Jormag, I might join in.
2) COF/COE/Arah contested dungeons
3) Occasionally for the unlocked temples.

darkdomino.9578:

I’ll say it one more time: “Dailies” are not gameplay. There is no difference between having a quest NPC tell you to “kill 10 centaurs” and have a daily objective of “10 underwater kills” -

Quest NPCs? Dont you mean a few lines of text when clicked upon in GW2

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Neb.4170:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Yes, I’ve had expansions with about this much content in them in previous games. And usually paid $20 for them, come to think of it.

Lost shore and Fractals were December. Not January/February.

Flame and Frost amounts to nothing so far. There is very, very little to actually do.
Daily revamp is nice, but small change.
Guild missions, yep, I will give you that one.

An expansion this does not make.

Hmmm. “Lost Dungeons of Norrath”. It was about on par with this. I think that was $20. I could be wrong.

I would call the above-mentioned DLCs worth of content not a full blown expansion. I paid $10 worth of gems instead of exchanging with gold as a small reward for the fracts when it first came out.

I am saving my money until they come up with a full blown expansion and fix longstanding bugs such as automove upon picking up stuff and the occasional can’t move but not immobilized/in text chat etc. bug

Kumu Honua.2751:

They are quite doable with 35’s. The ONLY place where it will be harder will be on spider queen.

Simply because their gear is probably going to suck. They will have teeny tiny health pools and less traits etc etc.

But if they play smart and have tools to remove conditions they can certainly do it.

Why not give it a go? Play for the challenge not for the rewards and tell us how it goes. Or you could go in lvl 80 with blue gear and remove your grandmaster traits to simulate lvl 35.

Iehova.9518:

The solution is simple my good man.

Stop pugging, get yourself a nice group of people who aren’t total horribads and run kitten with them. Y’know, socialize. It doesn’t hurt… much.

Oh and it took my hastily assembled ragtag group of drunkards from guildchat 20 minutes to clear AC3.

Sry I dont mix with drunks. I rather socialize irl.

Vox Hollow.2736:

You’re upset that dungeons aren’t enough like farming?
I think you are actually missing the point, OP.

Please tell ANet to buff COF P1 please. Isnt that the easiest dungeon and the most preferred farm despite being lvl 75?

LordByron.8369:

spykits OR class requirement were already a BAD design….
I still expect to see a vid of this done at lvl 30 without thief/guardians and warriors….because gating content to classes is even worse than gating it with equip.

I mean the elitists should show off their skills to everyone. No need to nerf so hard, 5 warrior party clearing this would be pretty epic to me. Endure Pain buys you 5s, so shouldn’t be that hard right? Vengeance would work well too.

Hmm, maybe lvl 30 or lvl 38 is too easy though.

I love it when people say they cleared lvl 38 post patch dredge but never say what their party composition is or whether they were in a PUG.

SteelpedHat, did your guys tank at the button whilst clearing everything? Would say this is more difficult or less difficult than Lava Shaman at the same level?

Ratty.5176:

I’ve done runs which have taken less than 8 mins with no warriors.

The problem is that even PVT geared GS warriors do more damage than a Power necro. Correct me if I am wrong.

I am afraid of being tarred and feathered by all and sundry but here goes:
Make COF P1 challenging instead (AKA early days of launch for effigy). Thus no more 4xwarriors 1xmesmer nonsense. That or have AC and COF swap lvl requirements.

I have yet to try out new AC on my 5 lvl 80s yet but I guess I will definitely be alt swapping my lvl 35 from all the threads posted.

VoxShatterfall.5470:

Mini, I say cliffside is not too bad (30 mins on 1 fractal I think is expected). But I agree with you there – 2 hours for F30 only gets you around 2-4 gold per run. Considering most farming gets you around 3-4 gold per hour fractals aren’t really worth the time.

I do feel doing some of the fractals is a waste of time – like snowblind which isn’t too hard but doesn’t have many good drops. Heck I even feel that swamp is a somewhat a waste due to only facing a puzzle at the beginning and a boss after that. Bottom line is if we are allowed to choose, I’d pick Ascalon 3x every fractal run.

Snowblind is still faster than cliffside and much easier. As for loot drops, lol @ Cliffside. Even Volcanic is faster than cliffside and u get grawl loot (only thing is that people complain about the legendary shaman).

I would agree with Ascalonian x3 if they fix the FPS issue. Believe it or not I prefer Dredge loot.

whipplerama.3692:

It would be funnier if the content was actually good.

To be fair some of it is. However I rather pay RL $ for a good actual expansion pack with as few bugs as possible that doesnt require you to get gear keyed to a specific part of the game.

Vayne.8563:

I finally got an ascended amulet, and I go down pretty much exactly as much as I used to. The difference isn’t as big as some would lead you to believe.

Problem is some stat combos exotic level accessories arent readily available and are sold by some obscure karma merchant somewhere and most importantly cant be crafted. The only alternative are the ascended gear with the stat combos u want.

At the other end of the spectrum: Fractals weapons cannot be bought with any currency. Which RNG god do I need to sacrifice to get even one of any type? After 500 fractals.

Kingfisher.7213:

Evan Lesh.3295:

You’re right that we do have a lot of currencies. We certainly know we could improve the experience here

Unfortunately, I don’t know if that will translate into a currency tab or a streamlining of how many currencies we need to manage.

The problem is that you cant convert from one currency to another directly. Boom problem solved

Ioflux.4369:

Overtuned, most likely, but still possible. To make numerous posts about how spykits are the only way to do something is just outright silly. (not referring to you)

Spykits arent the only way to do something. Neither is tanking on the button. And some people are in denial, posting numerous posts to affirm their denial.

Group as in PUG? Congrats.

Ropes.8690:

Dredge fractal is still very doable.

Keep in mind that fractal difficulty level is determined by the party. People are not forced to play fractals 30+, nor is it necessary to access any special content. Rings and fractal weapons are still obtainable at 20. With that said, it is supposed to be a challenge whenever you choose a higher difficulty and it often times requires different strategies to overcome the new challenge.

Yes but it is just lvl 30. Why is there a sudden large skill spike at the next tier? If you want people to continue to play fractals and who want to progress especially for casual players and PUGs in the hope of better loot? There is a noticeable difference in the average loot drops and chests between lvl 10 and lvl 30, at least for me. I mentioned b4 in an earlier post the problem with fracts is that it is a 3/4 stage dungeon. You may have spent hours prior to this with a PUG that is comfortable with the other fracts (say Cliffside or Lava shaman even) and u hit this brick wall.

Some people will have you believe that they will fail rarely in PUGs at dredge without spy kits / alt switching to thiefs and guardians (>lvl 30), I say bullkitten.

Minion of Vey.4398:

Nah, only time I kick people is if they go afk too long or lose link.

Sometimes OTHER people in the group didn’t want spy kits, so we didn’t use them. Obviously spy kits are the fastest way, it’s a freebie. But it’s not a big deal not using them either.

Err yes it WAS a big deal using the spy kits. And sorry if I want to make fights / puzzle / encounter easier by using a consumable and some elitists who don’t and hates them (scroll up thread for special kitten who kicks people from party from using them). I am not about to play with some kitten who insists on doing their own way, much less obey their directive, which is in fact less efficient based on nothing but virtual elitism.

If you don’t want to do an exploit / glitch (not a use of a consumable to non elitists) and party is perfectly capable of doing an encounter and the time difference is not huge like 20 minutes or more, fair enough. Even then it would be a suggestion to a group and not “ANET please ban these exploiters” or “I must stick to my virtual gaming ethics” etc.

LordByron.8369:

feel free to post a vid of your engineer surviving on the switch and then doing enough damage on vet shamans in lava stage….

Actually engineers is one of the classes able to “tank” while stationary for 20s. If a pistol/shield is equipped, along with ToolKit, Elixir Gun and Grenade Kit traited with Kit Refinement, he/she would have 2 shield blocks, 1 shield reflect projectiles, 4 Super Elixirs (which has been recently buffed), 3 AOE/bounce blind attacks, 1 AOE chill within the 20s window, not to mention the Elite skill Supply Crate (AOE 2s Daze + 1 Healing Turret). Engi would just need to wear PVT armor for maximum survivability.

It would be interesting if a ele/necro/ranger even warrior (now that food buff has been nerfed) was on the pressure plate though.

Did they fix the 270 degree cone 1 shot howl?

Aggro is not so clear cut. Mobs still go for the glass cannon warriors when my 2549 defense mesmer is around.

I notice this most visibly with the COF P1 slave driver and HOTW P1 troll. I am standing closer, have better toughness than the GS warrior and they go out of their way to chase down the warrior. In the wiki I tot I read something about highest DPS being part of the aggro table

Shiren.9532:

This is why I personally disagree with this. Spy kits gave equal access to a mechanic which is OP in fotm. The mechanic still exists for thieves, but other classes lost access to it. This fractal is doable without the kits, but thieves are so much better than everyone else for this fractal. I hate it when class mechanics (like stealth and portal) become so powerful in a group that they dramatically edge out other professions.

The flip side is that a lot of people hate having thieves in their party even those who play the profession well and makes some of the encounters much easier eg. the ice fractal bonfire stage solo with a good thief (people who L2P their professions). At least this nerf erases some of that prejudice.

Actually the OP mechanic in fractals is reflection: Feedback, wall of reflection, smoke screen, etc. Smoke screen happens to be a thief util so another reason to bring a thief.

Sticks.9374:

I suppose you think I am l33t for wanting people to not stack under the bridge and wail away on Mossman too. What a joke lol.

Khal Drogo.9631:

Are you opposed to your teammates using them even now post nerf because its still 10s of invis? If you are, will you kick them from your party?

If your teammate is a thief and is able to use his class mechanic to go stealth the entire duration of console activation, will you ask him to go stand on the button instead or kite (or help the tanker at the button even after lvl 30 in the case of some people)?

:D. Point taken about who to avoid or totally ignore in my case and vice versa. In a MMO Social Facebook yadda yadda.

DanH.5879:

actually, maybe thieves will be needed more in PVE (dungeons/fotm) parties ! (rather than being kicked)
you were cheating by using them (the spy kits), i do not think it was intended for just standing there spamming the kits and opening the back door

Like I said in a previous post one thing positive about this nerf. I don’t disagree with the need for a CD in order to prevent spam but essentially a thief would make dredge much simpler and is “cheating” by stealthing the whole time he is operating the console, which is no different from spamming the spy kit. A thief could choose NOT to however; and depending whether he/she is in a l33t group or not, would face condemnation or applause.

To prevent this “cheating” / “sleazing” whatever the l33t players want to call it, I suggested increasing the console activation time. But to my surprise, no one actually supports this suggestion, not even the l33t players. Maybe not to 1 minute as I pointed out in sarcasm, 30s to 40s. If some people can tank at the button for 20s at > lvl 30 fracts, whats another 10 to 20s? Should be no sweat. The attrition rate of players especially casuals and PUGS doing fracts > lvl 30 without rerolling will be higher due to greater number of failures, so it will be a win win for the l33tists.

In short, I think the cooldown introduced for the spy kit patch is ok to prevent spam and exploits of other dungeons and any encounter in general, but I feel that Anet should think about nerfing the spawns as well to compensate, closer to the early days of the fractals when the spawn rate was manageable for casual PUGs. Not just this but the Cliffside Arm Seals as well. I mean didn’t they nerf the HOTW P1 spawning sons of Svanir?

If Anet starts listening to the anti skipping portion of the l33tists as well, I will say goodbye to this game and boycott any other game published by the same devs.

PurpleHaze.4157:

People have multiple 80s. Just get someone in the party that isn’t the leader to swap out

Really? Wouldn’t some people say that is an abuse of the dungeon party rejoin mechanic? And frankly I kind of agree, but I will not say that it is a cardinal sin etc. After all I still have alts to level.

Minion of Vey.4398:

I’ve kited mobs away from the panel many times allowing successful caps of the door on 30+ without spy kits.

Are you opposed to your teammates using them even now post nerf because its still 10s of invis? If you are, will you kick them from your party?

If your teammate is a thief and is able to use his class mechanic to go stealth the entire duration of console activation, will you ask him to go stand on the button instead or kite (or help the tanker at the button even after lvl 30 in the case of some people)?

Minion of Vey.4398:

I’ve kited mobs away from the panel many times allowing successful caps of the door on 30+ without spy kits. Am I successful doing so on the first attempt every time? No of course not. But to say it’s impossible? That’s silly.

The operative word is kite. Some people tactics are to tank at the button to maintain aggro off the console activation after lvl 30. That was what my original post was about.

Also fine and dandy, if you got a bunch of good players (with at least one “compulsory” guardian) as a PUG party but more often than not, it is not going to happen. Don’t get me wrong I like skill check dungeons when they are optional (eg Arah) and not part of a 3/4 stage dungeon. If you get this for your 3rd fractal especially after two long fracts prior at higher levels and your party are fragile/dont have a guardian(s), aren’t skilled enuff, its time wasted for nothing. Same thing goes for doing the arm seals in Cliffside “The Right Way” (by NOT leaving one acolyte alive to prevent respawn which I only succeeded once after 3 long tries at only lvl 28 with 1 warrior 1 ranger and 3 light armors; if I recall correctly; PUG party).

GoZero.9708:

Dredge is perfectly possible without the spy kits (did a 38 group without them just now). It does, however, take much longer and require much more effort.

Kudos to you and your teammates, especially if it is a PUG party. May I also ask that have you used the tactic of tanking with one teammate to assist, whether have you reset at all and your party composition?

Ioflux.4369:

Basically if you don’t agree with his views, your opinion is invalid. Whether you do it legitly or spykit, his idea of doing is the epitome of the only way of doing it. Ive done dredge past lvl 40 doing it legitly. I like to do things the right way time to time as to remind people to not get rusty with such content. Feel free to keep crying about an unbalanced item though. We all knew it was going to get nerfed. Robert even said he doesnt like it 2 patches ago.

Hello I dont even use the term “the right way” or “the only way”. Its only some “non-elitists” who do. And I dont go “Wahh, some people arent playing the right way and face tanking everything, why are they CHEATING? How dare they cheese the encounter / mechanic with a consumable and not some class skill? Btw, if u use a spy kit (even after nerf), you are EXPLOITING aka non-legit and kitten off from my party”

Please suggest removing the spy kit altogther to the dev (in addition to increasing the console activation time). I seriously don’t mind if thats your idea of crying about an unbalanced item. I am no longer responding to people who obviously run 5 warrior full zerker gear guild parties in high level fracts because they are THAT good.

Shados.1306:

That was always the issue with fractals. People glitched/cheesed them from level 1 all the way up so no one knew how to do it. Having pugged while refusing to use any kind of exploit or near-exploit (cheese) in my groups, its laughable how many people have never even SEEN some of these fractals done fair and square.

Those who did handle them just fine though. Even without a thief. Its not that hard

May I ask what level u last did dredge without the spy kits and is it after they buffed the dredge spawn? And with PUGs please.

If you are serious about having a discussion however, please +1 to my suggestion of increasing the console activation time.

thisolderhead.5127:

Are you comparing “kiting vs. face tanking” as a tactical discussion to having a cry because an exploitable consumable was patched?

Seems the real concern is PUGs, how will PUGs be sucessfull if they can’t sleaze their way out of challenging content? I would have some more faith in your fellow players bro – we got your back…

Sure, not when the “non-elitists” are sliming you or other players. Am I complaining or having a cry as you put it? No, I didnt even start the thread. I just hate kittens who think they are really good players but may in fact suck.

Since you got personal, one more to my kitten block list. If you are serious about having a discussion however, please +1 to my suggestion of increasing the console activation time.

thisolderhead.5127:

Given that they changed the item mechanics to make “Your way” no longer work, and all of the reaching for alternative tactics come up with some weak approaches…

It could be that just killing the mob as suggested is in fact “The Right Way” – it appears to be intended, works, has just had a big item nerf to support its core mechanics… tick tick tick in favour of “More correct”..

I wish the “not elitist” players actually go pugging more often at high levels and don’t RQ if they fail repeatedly. I mean if people find the lava elemental really hard and can fail with TWO mesmers at lvl 10, GL to some people tactics of defending the two guys at the button AKA “The Right Way” to some people at high level fracts. So using a spy kit or even kiting is bad? The objective is just to buy enough time for the guy at the console to finish, but “The Right Way” for some people seems to be players to tank at the button and hope they can kill everything so that they don’t aggro the player at the console.

As for the separate issue of the spy kits which was brought up by the OP, the devs should have gotten rid of spy kits altogether if that was the intention of not being able to use stealth as a tactic, which some “non-elitist” players really loathe, judging by their responses eg KICKING players when they want to use spy kits. However, I approve of not spamming spy kit btw, 50s CD can be just a bit too long though, which I believe is the dev not wanting to trivalise many encounters including COF P3. I am not the dev, this is simply my opinion. I have no idea whether the “non elitist” players will insist on doing it “The Right Way” if they have a thief in the party and get the thief to NOT do the console. Maybe the developers should increase the activation time of the console to 1 min to prevent a stealth solution even by two thieves and satisfy the “non elitists”.

shortcake.8659:

I’ve done dredge fractals in the 60’s of fractal level without using spy kits with no problem.

If you can’t do it without spy kits, the problem is your players. Unskilled players who can’t figure out how to kill mobs while avoiding damage are just going to fail now. I’m glad this change is in.

Fine. I wish I could play with elite players like you all the time, if wat you say is true for u and all ur teammates. And good job trying to avoid damage when the guy on the button can’t dodge.