Guild Wars 2

Yeah, I hope there’s a good solution in the works for “checkpoint” rewards. One of the reasons I currently like AC is that the champion graveling (detha path has 2 champions) drops 5s, and the end boss drops 15s (7s and 21s respectively using omnom bars). They need something like this, if nothing better, in other dungeons, too. If they had more of these, people may start clearing mobs normally.

Asagi.1405:

Well, you know, they could’ve not removed tokens from the chests.
Arenanet create problems then wonder how to fix them.

Yes I know this was to prevent farming the first bosses in each dungeon, however completely removing the tokens from them was the most unintelligent solution to this problem.

You still get the same amount of tokens for completing the dungeon. You would get 5 from each chest (15) and then the endboss would give you 15 on initial completion and 5 on repeat. This is 30 on initial and 20 on repeat. It’s the same tokens in a different part of the dungeon.

These days, barring DR, you get 60 on initial and 20 on repeat, which is more tokens than previously with the tokens in the chests. Am I missing something here?

Maybe they should make these keys tradeable. Hopefully, it goes the way of butter and it sells for 1 copper. One of my alts got 13 keys in an hour from just doing hearts in the zone. I’d much rather give/sell these keys than delete them because I feel it would have more value helping someone do their map completion.

I can’t speak for everyone in terms of difficulty. I feel it can be difficult at first, not having been in the dungeon previously, but once you learn the dungeon, it’s pretty easy. After a few runs, it becomes pretty tedious because alpha’s attacks repeat quite frequently. It’s pretty much the same AoE in the same interval. I like the theme of the dungeon more than the mechanics. The only fight I really enjoyed was the one with the guns in path 2.

Yeah, the NPCs make it hard for me to use my support boons in a timely manner because they steal my boons. My most reliable way to heal my team is by resolve activation or by dodge roll heal.

Unfortunately, no. It’s one of those situations where you have to confirm your purchase carefully before buying. If it makes you feel any better, a lot of my friends did this, too, in their excitement to get their armor. It’s kind of funny how one of them chants “don’t buy the wrong armor piece” before he buys his armor. :P

Greyfeld.7104:

Jezath.7395:

something to add to this, magic find is only applied on monster kill not loot.

Also, it doesent work on chests only on mobs.

Do you have a link for this information? Or is this just hearsay?

Izzy confirms it in this post: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Magic-Find-Chests/first#post621416

I’ve heard that it only works locally. I’m from a US server, and my friend on a EU server could not join us (she got a network error popup). However, we had a friend on a different US server, and he was able to join us.

My team and I just need the 4 Arah explorable paths for the dungeon master title. We’ve been holding off on attempting any of the paths because of the amount of blocking issues/bugs we’re seeing on this forum relating to Arah paths. Are there any paths that are free of blocking issues/bugs or should we just wait for some patches to fix things up?

(NOTE: our Arah gate is working properly)

Thanks in advance.

I feel that way for a lot of the HotW mobs. Most of the fights have the “challenge” of trying to hit high HP bars rather than interesting mechanics. I would much rather they lower the HP bars and have interesting abilities that would produce difficulty. I like the dungeon environment, I like the Kodan, and I like the token armor, but I dislike the fights. My group and I have managed to tolerate so many of these runs because we wanted the armors.

I’d like to actually revisit this place outside of token farming if the fight mechanics of the dungeon change. It’s really easy to lose interest in path 2 and 3, since the underwater combat takes such a long time. Path 1 is okay, since we can clear it in 20 minutes and can easily run past the unnecessary mobs. Their loot is decent, but fighting them is just not fun with the high HP bars and getting trapped in AoE when fighting in very cramped spaces. We can kill them easily, but it’s a bit stressful rather than challenging.

I think the system is okay, but a few minor tweaks would be nice. I don’t agree that getting downleveled devalues the fact that you are level 80. The perks that come on your gear and traits make a huge difference when you go to those lower level zones. These are things you probably wouldn’t have at lower levels.

ilr.9675:

What do you call it when a small elite group of people take it upon themselves to decide that almost everyone else who doesn’t think like them should be excluded from something really important?

I don’t like throwing labels around and I know Anet doesn’t endorse it either so I won’t hazard a guess here….

I just want to point out that Arah contains what is perhaps… THE MOST PIVOTAL historic lore about the ancient races that any Gw1 lore junkie could ever want. And missing out on it just because 1 boss has a few too many luck based mechanics that us overly skilled players deem “avoidable” … is really unfair to those people who deserve to see the story first hand with their own friends (instead of having to pay several Gold to have some “Pros” run it for them like it was Rraggarr’s or Shard of Orr).

Are you talking about story mode or explorable mode? I’ll admit that I haven’t done any arah explorables yet (since I saw multiple reports of blocked progress), but is there really that much lore in Arah explorable?

My group and I decided to bring one of our new dungeon runners to experience TA as we remembered it, but we noticed that the blossoms had changed. They are bigger, seem easier to hit, and they seem to deal damage in pulses now. I was just curious when this change was implemented. I don’t remember seeing it in the patch notes.

The whole blossom pathway and wurm fight seem a lot easier now. As a guardian, I can just swing my GS around to kill the blossoms if I so desired, receiving little to no damage. Honestly, I liked the challenge of the previous version of the blossoms (minus the hitbox problem), but this seems like it would be better for PuG groups. I’m surprised I haven’t seen any talk about this, since this was a huge complaint in the past.

How have the changes affected the rest of you? Are you able to hit the blossoms with weapons that couldn’t hit them before? Is the wurm fight easier for you? Did you think this was a good change?

It hasn’t bugged out on my group at all when we ran full run twice yesterday. In the situations when we had that bug in the past, it was usually due to nearby enemy aggro, party members moving too far ahead before grabbing the scepter in the burrow room, or party members being scattered as you advance after the burrow room. Perhaps, if you don’t already do it, try to have party members move together after you hear the confirmation of the burrow scepter being found?

I do it a lot, and I feel bad about it, but the fact of the matter is that there is currently no substantial incentive to fight the trash mobs. It’s a waste of time. My group and I have fought through all of our dungeons without mob skipping several times, so at this point we know the mob names and what they are capable of doing. There is no reason for us to fight them until Anet adjusts the loot table for them. We’re doing the run to farm money, not spend 5-10 minutes beating on several groups of mobs for no rewards. We know what these mobs do, we’re capable of killing them easily, and we know that they aren’t worth the time. If you think about it in terms of open world PvE, people don’t usually kill every single enemy that they encounter unless they have to. I’m pretty sure most people skip mobs until they hit a heart, DE, or other relevant locations. This is the same situation.

I honestly only recommend mob skipping with an organized team of people you know (AFTER you have taken the time to understand the mob types). Doing it in PuG runs can get really messy because you’re not always sure if everyone is on the same page. I do it with my group because I know we won’t wipe and we barely have repair bills when we’re done with our runs.

It’s one thing to want to do a fast run, but it’s another if you sacrifice team coordination. I don’t see why people would think it is a good idea to do this in PuG groups, especially if you don’t know anyone on the team. It’s a bad habit that needs to be dropped for general purposes. At the very least, if such a tactic is desired, the entire team should know about it and be able to do it.

My group has already cleared about 90% of the game’s dungeons normally several times, so at this point we know what to expect on all of the paths. Take a look at the original GW’s speed clear meta across the various elite instances — it’s all about mob skipping and fighting at the relevant parts. It’s like open world PvE where most people would just avoid mobs to get to relevant locations such as a heart or DE. It’s currently part of the game’s mechanic in a different environment. Unless the trash mobs are relevant for progressing the dungeon or obtaining something useful, this unfortunate “tactic” will exist.

Again, I think this kind of “tactic” should be used with organized groups, where you know your team can successfully avoid the consequences and are already very familiar with the mobs. In random PuG groups, you’ll probably be looking at high repair bills and lost time. In my opinion, anyone attempting mob skipping should at least have some knowledge of the mob types because there are some fights where it’s worth fighting. This should be experienced with normal clears on the first few runs before “tactics” are shifted towards mob skipping. I currently see the skippable mobs more or less as tutorial mobs, so once you understand how they work, skipping them would save you a lot of trouble. If you’re running a dungeon for more than a visit, then there’s really no point to go through the trouble of wasting time on mob groups that provide no benefit.

The devs are aware that we’re skipping mobs and the reasons why. The only complaint I really see against it is from people in PuG groups who have a certain preference of how they want the dungeon to be run. Either submit to the group’s wants or join/create your own group that does the dungeon your way. For now, mob skipping is an option, and some people are just using that option irresponsibly.

Ari Kagura.9182:

Personally, I’d wait until those Superior Runes from the dungeon vendors become unbound in a future patch. I could have sworn I read a red post about it some time ago.

I thought this was for the runes that you get out of the dungeon chests? As far as I can tell, the token vendor items are intended to be soulbound items. Correct me if I’m wrong.

The results I get tend to sell for 1g or more on the TP. I wouldn’t gamble 1g if it would cause some financial problems for whatever it is you need to buy.

Posting pointless threads about how you don’t like dungeons because it’s pointless to your personal goals are pointless. Seriously, give actual constructive criticisms that devs can use instead of pretty much saying that dungeons are not your cup of tea. There’s enough of these threads on this forum.

Dungeons don’t do anything worthwhile for you? Don’t do them…

It depends on your situation of acquiring and storing the tokens, I guess. Dungeon running is already a large part of what I do daily, so I don’t mind tossing greatswords into the forge, since it doesn’t take long until I get another set of tokens for forge tossing. I can’t really sell the rewards anyways, so at its worst, it’s a bit of extra money. I really have no need for my excess tokens at this point and it will create a storage problem if I hoard too many.

I forgot where I read this, but way before release, monthly achievements were advertised to have a some new objectives each month, so I guess it would be safe to assume that another set of different objectives will appear for monthly achievements in the following months.

I completed my first monthly last month after seeing the karma change. I’m personally not a huge fan of WvW, but I want my karma badly enough that I just do it, anyways. :P

My team and I have been doing AC, all paths twice daily, for the past week, and have not encountered this problem. Sometimes we notice that Hodgins wants to attack mobs in another room and causes him to stall on opening the doors you mentioned (usually the oozes that you can avoid spawning). Did your group(s) spawn the oozes and try to run past them quickly?

I do AC runs with my friends’ lower level alts all the time, and our runs still go smooth. While I agree that it’s very elitist of people to only take 80s for lower level dungeons, they have the right to make whatever kind of group they want: by class, by setup, etc.

In my opinion, it’s their own fault if they ever have the nerve to complain why they can’t get a group for dungeons sometimes or why sometimes the quality of PuGs are low. They’re specifically restricting the pool of players that can run with them instead of being helpful and training new generations of dungeon runners to foster a better pool of players.

Could we have a sticky that highlights some of the dungeon development plans that were discussed, since the old posts tend to get lost from the frequent thread spam? Rob, I remember you saying something about you guys not wanting to write anything about it because it would sound like you were making a promise. Also, you mentioned that the team is constantly changing things around, which would make it hard to keep track of. How about just highlighting the general ideas? I figured it would help reduce a lot of the repeat posts if there was a sticky showing the players what is being worked on. Also, it may make it easier for the team to read the players feedback.

Here’s a few things that were discussed previously, for example:

-Better Dungeon Grouping System
-Improving Dungeon Loot Tables
-Reduced Punishment to Legit Players From the DR System
-Fixing Bugs/Blocking Issues

Because this question keeps frequently popping up and because people keep talking about it as if it has not been discussed, I thought I’d quote a dev from a while ago for clarification:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

We’re very aware our LFG system is lacking, an it’s high on our list of things to rework. We have some other very pressing issues to handle first, but as someone who built/runs dungeons, and often PUG them, I dislike our current obscure and non-informative system, and re-building it is high on my list of things-to-flail-my-arms-about-to-talented-people-who-can-do-something-about-it, so that they do something about it.

They know it’s a problem, and it will come eventually. I recommend that you try to find regulars to play with using other means such as posting in these forums (like many are already doing) or looking for a guild that meets your expectations to run these kinds of dungeons. The current “easy” option is if you start befriending quality players, so all you have to do is whisper them rather than spam chat.

I’m not saying a dungeon finder is a bad idea, but people should not rely only on that to find groups. It’s a social game. Try to make new friends when you do end up getting groups, so you don’t have to repeat the tedious grouping process as much next time.

Good luck and have fun out there!

Is this happening recently or has this happened for a while? If it’s recently, maybe people are just trying to take advantage of the halloween event while it’s here. On my server, though I don’t PuG, I’ve noticed a decline of players in front of dungeon doors, but there are tons of players in LA grouping up for halloween stuff.

Yep.

From the GW2 wiki notes on sigils:
“Charging and non charging sigils can be stacked.”

Seems a lot of these incidents happen because the kickers feel like they’re being patronized when the “victims” are actually trying to be helpful. I don’t know what’s going on lately, but I guess a lot of recent PuGs don’t appreciate acts of kindness anymore. People snap at the most random things these days..

I hope this works out well for you. THIS is the kind of initiative I think people need to improve the quality of dungeon groups for themselves, since the dungeon will not do it for them.

Well, the explorable dungeons were advertised to be done by a coordinated group (at least according to an article that was released prior to launch).

Some of the article’s content is on the GW2 wiki now:
“Explorable mode deals with the aftermath of the events in story mode. The explorable dungeon story is told with fewer cutscenes and little exposition, and is no longer related to Destiny’s Edge. The player is presented with at least three different paths to play through for each dungeon. The party votes on the option they will take through the dungeon and the majority determines the dungeon version seen. The explorable mode dungeon is designed to be repeated, with player actions and decisions determining the occurrence of hidden or random events along with the related changes to the dungeon. This mode requires significantly more coordination between team members and so is far more difficult than story mode. It takes a significantly longer period of time than story mode.” http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dungeon

The problem is they expected PuGs to coordinate for content with more team-focused dynamics, which I think is really difficult (if not impossible) to do unless you are a good leader or are part of a group of people you know. The ad-hoc nature of joining people in the open world works very well in comparison to dungeons as there are no capability expectations.

The majority of players in the game will PuG for sure, but I still question whether or not Anet intended the dungeons to be accessible to PuGs. In most other games I’ve played, most of this is remedied by some kind of build/strategies/etc meta. Maybe PuG group coordination will get better as guides to these dungeons and guides to professions become more available/accessible. There’s quite a few people in these forums that take pride in doing successful PuG runs. Perhaps they led the group? Perhaps they got lucky several times and found civilized individuals who were willing to coordinate?

As it stands, these dungeons have such a high learning curve that anyone who does not do their research or has not been taught by a good group will possibly sabotage the experience for others. My first few times in AC were rough (I PuG’d a lot in beta), but eventually, I became familiar with the mechanics and it became easy. I had some fun successful runs with PuGs in beta by leading the groups.

On another note, I don’t know if you’ve played the exploration dungeons yet, but those seem pretty accessible to random PuG groups as it focuses more on exploring than the actual combat (there are boss fights, though). There’s one in Fireheart Rise and Dredgehaunt Cliffs. Perhaps, if they improve the loot/rewards to those kinds of dungeons, more PuGs would probably want to do that. The dungeons are short and the combat feels very similar to regular PvE. I found those dungeon mechanics more fun. One of them involves finding stuff in the dark using a torch.

JonPeters.5630:

Plain and simple this system is a safety net for stopping crazy farming when people find exploits that make each run super fast. We are also addressing those loopholes, but that takes time and new ones might always be discovered. If you and your group do the dungeons without skipping large sections and run different chains this system shoul(bugs aside) never impact you.

Addendum for clarity, super fast means < 30 minutes, and even then you must hit that speed multiple times in a row before you start seeing any impact.

JonPeters.5630:

rickets.1386:

JonPeters.5630:

Plain and simple this system is a safety net for stopping crazy farming when people find exploits that make each run super fast. We are also addressing those loopholes, but that takes time and new ones might always be discovered. If you and your group do the dungeons without skipping large sections and run different chains this system shoul(bugs aside) never impact you.

Addendum for clarity, super fast means < 30 minutes, and even then you must hit that speed multiple times in a row before you start seeing any impact.

Thanks for the reply Jon, and thanks for giving a time. However, my group just did a legit maggs run and a legit AC path 2 run in 25 minutes each. Of course with the bug we all got different rewards but i will post that in the proper forum with times.

They were not death free runs and we didn’t feel like we did them as fast as we could have, so when we bring our “A” game we will basically be waiting in front of the last boss room for 10 minutes to make sure we get full rewards….not fun. But, I guess if the system starts to work like you hope and it takes multiple sub 30 minute runs in a row we should be fine.

I will also be posting links to the 2 runs we just did(as soon as they are uploaded) to prove we did them legit.

Thanks and i hope a fix is on its way soon.

Thank you this is excellent info. We would like dungeons to be legit hard enough to take closer to 45 mins but if we can’t accomplish that goal we can look at the speed clear times from non exploiters and easily adjust the system. The goal is that hardcore farmers don’t even see this thing but only exploiters. We will keep working towards that goal.

Jon

They are working to find a system that doesn’t punish the legit players. They will give us an official word when it’s ready. From some conversations I read a while ago, they “may” change the loot drops of trash mobs and additional bosses to encourage players to slow down and get more rewards. It’s not official, so don’t quote me on that.

Yep, this sums up a lot of my issues with dungeons at the moment. Good post and organization.

@Anders
Yes, I have fun, in general. I answered the way I did because you asked us to tell you how to enjoy it better — play with a group of dedicated and coordinated friends.

The PuG experience has mostly been stressful for me, no matter what MMO I’ve played, and I highly doubt there will be a way to improve the experience, since developers can only provide the game and not the ideal player base. Sometimes, it was stressful playing with friends because I would have to run whatever was the PvE meta for the dungeon, and we’d need the Tank/Healer/DPS trinity, which usually required rerolls of characters we probably would not want to play on our own. With the Control/Support/DPS trinity, it’s only a matter of tweaking skills/major traits that are necessary to deal with any given situation.

I like how there are less restrictions on group compositions required for dungeons because now, I’m making alts just to learn more about the capabilities of other professions rather than making them because it is “required”. However, there’s a bunch of dungeons out there that I dislike because of its design (boss has too much HP, boss doesn’t do anything scary, paths are bugged, etc.), but again, the devs are reading these forums for constructive criticism, so I’m expecting the dungeon “fun” to improve eventually.

The main reason I’m enjoying dungeons is because it involves a lot of focused team gameplay (IF you’re playing with a reliable team) in comparison to the open world PvE zerging. My skills have more value on a team level, and I feel accomplished when I figure out how to use my skills/traits best against any given dungeon scenario. The faceroll spam that you can do in open world PvE makes it boring for me. Dungeon mastery eventually leads to faster clears, less repair bills, and helps you master your profession. This, in turn, nets you faster tokens/coin.

To reiterate, the dungeon mechanics need a lot of tweaks, so for me, it’s only fun when I’m playing with my friends. The team mechanics are more interesting than the dungeon mechanics. At the very least, my team can clear a majority of runs in 20-30 minutes minimum. At this point, we run the dungeons (alternating paths) for quick coin, karma, and tokens (for stuff to throw in the forge). Any good loot we actually find is a bonus (occasional cores/lodestones/salvageable rares/t5-t6 salvage mats). Essentially, we’re farming together because we need money to buy stuff and because we enjoy the team playstyle over solo/zerg open world playstyle.

I can cooperatively farm several dimensions of game income with a team of friends, using a profession I absolutely enjoy and finishing in 30 minutes or less. For me, these things are feasible for the temporary lack of “fun” dungeon mechanics. These are most of my minimal expectations of fun for dungeons. Fun dungeon mechanics are next on the list, which I will patiently wait for by providing constructive criticism if it has not already been made on the forums.

@Otter
Ouch, you just proved my point about some PuGs. Sorry you had to experience a dungeon with rude people like that. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the experience more with a coordinated group that is willing to teach you. If not, then I guess dungeons will just be something to put on hold for updates or an area of PvE to avoid.

On its own, I think a bunch of the dungeons need more work. The devs are checking on here frequently for our feedback, so eventually, I’m expecting it to improve.

Given that, I enjoy dungeons because I mainly play with a team of friends. We have a set time that we meet up everyday, and we discuss what dungeons we want to do. We’ve helped a lot of our friends obtain their dungeon token armor, so now, we’re on a mission to get dungeon master (patiently waiting on Arah fixes). We also want to improve our efficiency at some of the dungeons we run outside of AC.

For me, being able to make a reliable group in a short period of time eliminates a LOT of stress that comes from random PuG groups. I just look up the first 4 friends that want to do a dungeon and “bam!” group is made. My friends and I are always looking to improve our run efficiency by experimenting with different builds and strategies. Sometimes, we play other professions to learn more about them. Every time we do a run, we give each other constructive criticism if something could be done more efficiently. For us, dungeon running is a process of refining our knowledge of the dungeon, improving our use of our professions in the dungeon environment, making income (coin/karma), obtaining dungeon token gear, and most of all, having fun playing together.

First off, I’ll explain why you see it on the map. When you get to the relevant levels (AC is level 30 for story mode, for example), you will get mail from an NPC, telling you that a dungeon is available, which includes a “show me” option. Even if you delete the mail, the dungeon icons will show on the map as long as you meet it’s recommended minimum level.

The recommended levels are on this wiki page: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dungeon

Even if you have not been to the dungeon’s zone map, you can still access the dungeon. One easy way is to have one of your party members start the dungeon instance. When they are inside, you will get a prompt as long as you are in or whenever you arrive at the dungeon’s zone map. If this is not an option, you can always walk to the indicated dungeon location on your map.

Short version:
If you see the dungeon’s map icon, at the very least, you can enter that dungeon’s story mode.

Rare versions of dungeon armor are pretty much rare stats for the dungeon’s relevant levels (i.e. AC has level 30ish rare armor) and they have generic skins (pirate for medium armor, for example). Only the exotics have the “unique” skins.

If you wish, you can preview (right click on the NPC’s armor menu) the rare skins at the dungeon vendors in Fort Mariner of Lion’s Arch to see that they are generic skins in comparison to the dungeon’s exotic skins.

You can transmute the exotic skins with your crafted exotic stats.

Anet advertised dungeons to be done by coordinated groups (which seems to have eluded some people for whatever reason).

From the GW2 wiki (which quotes the early Anet dungeon articles):
“Explorable mode deals with the aftermath of the events in story mode. The explorable dungeon story is told with fewer cutscenes and little exposition, and is no longer related to Destiny’s Edge. The player is presented with at least three different paths to play through for each dungeon. The party votes on the option they will take through the dungeon and the majority determines the dungeon version seen. The explorable mode dungeon is designed to be repeated, with player actions and decisions determining the occurrence of hidden or random events along with the related changes to the dungeon. This mode requires significantly more coordination between team members and so is far more difficult than story mode. It takes a significantly longer period of time than story mode.”

I have a pool of about 20 active players that I can choose from. I did not meet them all from mega guilds, and I am not in a mega guild now. The point I was trying to make is that the player needs to make an effort to build game contacts, at least for now until a more efficient grouping tool is implemented, if efficient dungeon running is desired. A lot of people these days are still stuck in the PuG cycle where they think picking up a random group of strangers is always going to lead to a successful run. It can, but it’s less likely than an organized team. When you want your car repaired, would you not prefer a good mechanic that you personally know over a mechanic that you barely know?

Dungeons have a point to those who WANT the rewards it offers. For me, that is interactive group play, dungeon tokens for forge mix/aesthetics, and consistent coin income. I make a couple gold a night, have fun with my game friends, and sometimes, I learn new tricks on new professions that I play.

If this point is still not getting across, then I shall cease any more attempts to explain it. Your question is pretty much answered. You don’t like dungeons. Don’t do them. It doesn’t work for you, but it works for others. Other people have goals within dungeons. You do not, so do what you enjoy.

That’s pretty much internet gaming, in my experience. Too many people are stuck in the PuG cycle for whatever reason. You never know what to expect and you likely won’t see those people in your group the next time around. If you group with people you know, you can develop your strategies and realize that some challenges suddenly become a cakewalk.

I’ve pooled everyone I know from other games together, so when we want to do dungeons, it takes like 2 minutes at most to get a team on most days. I knew a lot of these people from GW1 because in GW1, I specifically looked for a guild that met my expectations and became acquainted with them. I think if you really want to do something like dungeons, it requires dedicated effort on the player’s part.

Again, this type of activity is not for everyone. If you don’t want to do it, then don’t. It’s clear that solo farming suits you better, so do that. Don’t try to decide that dungeon running is a waste of time for everyone just because it isn’t working for you. For this scenario, you’re only speaking from the perspective of one who does not have an organized team. There’s a huge difference between a dedicated organized team and forming a random pickup group at the dungeon entrance: consistency vs. chance.

Some people like aesthetics (believe it or not) and you only pay repair bills IF you die. Some dungeons take 20 minutes or less with a coordinated group. My team and I have leveled several alts and made good coin on a daily basis doing AC runs, so it’s not a waste of time for us. Also, since we’ve learned most of the dungeons, we know how to counter almost all the situations, so our repair bills are very minimal to none.

You seem very misinformed about dungeons, probably because you have done it with random PuGs or uncoordinated players. Just because you had some bad experiences does not mean all of us are having that kind of experience…. Not all of us play with PuGs regularly and actually took the time to develop a dedicated dungeon team.

If you don’t like dungeons, then don’t do them. People mainly do them for the quick coin on clear (when experienced), “unique” armor/weapon aesthetics, coordinated group play, and for using tokens to toss exotic weapons into the forge (chance at precursor; gives tradeable exotic at its worst). Repair bills and time forming groups are GREATLY reduced when you have a good contacts list of reliable people (takes time to develop, but it pays off), instead of relying on random strangers over and over again. I honestly don’t like solo farming because I find it boring. This is why I do dungeons with my team daily, so we can hang out, have some fun, and make some money together. A few of my team members are solo farmers too, and they make about the same, if not more, gold doing dungeons.

Wait for it to be fixed.

A dev has addressed this issue: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/SE-path-1-infinite-waves-intended/first#post540371

I’ve seen several mobs in open world PvE maps fight each other, sometimes on their own (poor rabbits ). This is pretty much the same thing, so it’s not an exploit.

neck.2159:

> Some of us are working on legendaries, so extra tokens are used for dropping exotic dungeon reward weapons into the forge for a chance at a precursor; at its worst, it turns into an exotic that you can sell for a gold or higher in the TP.

… and I never thought of that. Well I know where the next batch of CoF token is going now.

Yeah, I think this may be part of the reason why they don’t want to award us with too many tokens. It seems that they want us to have this option to use the mystic forge, but not kill the market.

My group has had a similar profession setup (minus thief) as you stated in the OP, and we were able to kill everything. It wasn’t easy, but with a little coordination and proper tweaks, you can get far.

If your group is one where people have not learned to tweak their skills to the situation, then that is probably why you’re having problems. I feel that a lot of the difficulty of this fight has to deal with the ranged damage. The guardian’s shield of the avenger can negate a lot of projectiles for at least 20 seconds. The mesmer’s feedback can reflect more projectiles. The guardian and mesmer should be grouping the mobs together via AoE pulls (binding blade and temporal curtain, respectively). The engi, thief, and ranger should have snares/immobilizes after the pulls, and should be the main ones doing the damage to key targets (i.e. smokelords). You honestly have one of the best profession setups for this fight, but utilizing it is another thing.

In my opinion, if you’re using this event as an opportunity to kite, you’re purposely depriving yourself of pushing your limits as a group and learning to play your professions. It’s definitely not impossible, and I have to say that getting through that without kiting is a satisfying feeling. I don’t know if this will work with PuGs, but if you have an organized team, I definitely recommend mastering it.

I don’t get what makes it so special that it needs a bag. It should just be coins added to your inventory unless I’m missing something behind the bag concept?

I play for fun and tokens.

Yesterday, a friend and I did a two-man AC run of Hodgins’s path to challenge ourselves, and it was pretty interesting. Now, we have something to do while we wait for our dungeon regulars to log on. :P

Although not truly perfected yet, I feel the dungeons offer a more concentrated style of play for team dynamics compared to open world PvE. My group and I are always trying to discover new strategies to improve the efficiency of our runs, which makes it interesting for us.

For us, dungeons are a great way of farming karma, coin, and leveling alts. We alternate dungeons and paths, of course. Some of us are working on legendaries, so extra tokens are used for dropping exotic dungeon reward weapons into the forge for a chance at a precursor; at its worst, it turns into an exotic that you can sell for a gold or higher in the TP.

In the past, we’ve been helping each other obtain the gear we wanted from dungeons, and now that we’ve helped all our friends, we’re focusing on obtaining the dungeon master title (only arah dungeon remains). After that, we’ll probably randomize the dungeons we do daily just for the hell of it.

Anet is working on a lot of things to improve the dungeon experience, so it will be interesting to revisit old dungeons to see how they have changed. Some of the interesting things that will be implemented (posted by Rob) eventually are improved loot tables, fixes to object hit boxes (burrows, blossoms, etc.), and tweaks to various dungeons.

Story mode completion is character-based, so you would need to complete story mode on each additional character to be able to host explorable modes for any particular dungeon.

The rares are generic skins mainly there for the stats at the relevant levels. The exotics are there for endgame stats and “unique” skins.

I guess the previous personal story quest objectives really DID weaken zhaitan. :P

Story mode enables you to host explorable mode. However, you can join the instance of anyone else who can host an explorable mode whether or not you have completed the story mode of the particular instance.

Are you actually saving the tokens up for something? If not, you might as well spend them until they do something about it.

I use my spare tokens to turn them into exotic weapons of one type and throw them into the forge, since the forged weapon is tradeable. So far, I have not gotten a legendary precursor, but at least I can sell unwanted forged weapons for 1g or more. At one point, I got a cool GS skin (forgot the name) that I kept for a different character.

This has been a discussion in several threads and the devs are trying to work on a fix for all destructible objects (burrows, roadblocks, blossoms, etc.). For the time being, you’ll have to use alternatives that actually work on them. If you ask nicely, maybe someone else in your party can switch weapons or something to make the process easier. :P

Here’s some suggestions based on what I have tested in the past:

-ele staff air autoattack (works about 70% of the time and bounces to other blossoms)
-guardian staff autoattack (kills blossoms so easily)
-thief shortbow autoattack (bounces across several blossoms)
-thief dancing dagger (bounces across several blossoms)
-engineer grenades (can easily kill 1 at a time)