AC is easily done at lv30 in blues without any high level help. they have been made easier since release and they were done at 30 in blues without any high levels then too.
point is not that they dont manage your expectations, the problem is your expectation is it will be the same as others games you have played and it is not and you need to adjust how you play to succeed. even with such warning was to be placed across your screen in huge red letters, those who fail miserably will still because it takes time to adjust (be it figuring it out yourself or getting to trying something different sooner when your failing from some warning when you enter). those who can not complete AC at 30 (story) or 35(exp) will still not complete it and those of us who have no issues would still have no issues.
I hate to say it, but this is simply a L2P issue… this isnt WoW, LOTRO, Rift, or w/e other MMO you are used to and it takes some time to adjust. Some of us get it within the first few bosses in AC story and some still have not got it by the time they are 80 and done many dung runs (pulled through by the rest of their party).
I understand where you are coming from and I respect that you want dungeons to be challenging. I do too! I love a challenge, when I am expecting and prepared for it, but the first dungeon you come to while you are still learning the ropes of the game should not backhand you this hard.
This is straight up bad UX. Saying I should L2P is exactly right, I AM still learning to play, so why am I being thrown against a wall which seems insurmountable at this time? Isn’t it better to teach players how to do dungeons with the first few experiences by gradually introducing them to mechanics rather than throwing multiple challenges at them at once and saying “Deal with it”?
Sure there are other things I can do in the world, which I love, but I’ve been told by multiple official sources that this dungeon is within my grasps.
Can you see where I’m coming from?
I don’t want to take all the challenge away from this game, really I don’t. I want to be forced to use my class to the fullest once I’ve mastered it at 80 but I feel defeated and unmotivated to play when that challenge is thrown at me when I’m still “L2P”. I’ve done the research and I know I’m not alone in this.
Making content appropriately accessible and managing expectations is good for the whole game. It means more players stay engaged for longer, rather than dropping out and moving to other games, which means they are more likely to recommend it to their friends and that means more money coming into ArenaNet so they can keep producing content for those who want a challenge. It’s a win for everyone involved.
In case anyone missed it. I completed this dungeon with an 8 and a 10 year old. It was their first time in this dungeon. They completed it on their first try with myself as their guide. They Didnt break down in tears and write a post out in bold and caps. They want to do it again because thwy think it was fun. That is all.
Congrats.
The amount of players replying to this thread alone is a sign that this is not the normal experience.
I’ll reinstate my main point: Dungeons can be as difficult as they need to be but the game should manage the player’s expectations so they don’t see content as accessible until it actually is.
AC with all lv 35 alts in blue/green is a joke, but AC with a full set of new lv35’s in the same gear is hard. Why is this? well the alts have experience with this games system (much different from every other MMO) and know how to play. the new players do not yet understand how group dynamics work in GW2 and how to deal with dung runs go, making it seam more difficult then it is.
Now lv30 fractal or higher level dung are easier? well when you consider the extra experience in GW2 that people have by then it is to be expected. By the time your doing fractal 30 you know the fractals inside and out, know exactly what and when to dodge and have done them all MANY MANY times making them easy and Zzzz.
Take a fresh group of 80’s give them best gear and 30AR and toss them into a frac 30 (w/o ever doing a fractal before, or at max doing just the pre lv10 runs w/o agony and all mechanics, hell even give them the stratagies) and watch how bad they will fail, or how long it will take them.
It is simple, it takes time to adjust to the way the game works and this is why the first few dung are so hard to new players. and add the fact that many quickly take to the grave run strategy rather than figure out the proper way only makes it worse.
I think you’ve nailed the problem.
I don’t have an issue with hard dungeons, in fact I look forward to attempting challenging fights. But when I step into my FIRST DUNGEON with a few friends and a few pugs, which is CLEARLY labeled a level 30 dungeon I don’t expect to be knocked on my kitten multiple times before even getting to the first boss. I expect to be eased into the system so I can gradually adapt and adjust my play style. The current system fails to do this and will fail to allow casual players to enjoy dungeons, even in their easy modes.
This is a case of breaking expectations. Up until the point where I start doing the first dungeon (AC) I’m lead to believe that everything that I’ve accomplished to this point means I’ll have a good shot at completing this dungeon. There is no reason to doubt this assumption, no warning signs, in fact I’m encouraged by the fact that I’m level 38 which is 8 levels above the listed level which means my gear should be a little better than expected for the dungeon. Right? There are no warning signs saying “It would be better if you waited till you were 80 to do this”. There is nothing to warn me that this is going to be a MASSIVE jump in difficulty from what I’ve previously experienced. So I go ahead and have an absolutely horrible experience, by far the worst in this game.
That is the main issue here, not dungeon difficulty.
TL;DR: Dungeons can be as difficult as they need to be but the game should manage the player’s expectations so they don’t see content as accessible until it actually is.
(edited by Pandabro.8743)
I recently went into AC(story) for the first time today and had an absolutely horrible experience. I’m not new to MMOs, raided top tier PVE WoW content for better part of four years so I’m used to beating my head against the wall if need be to figure out mechanics but I usually find that kind of content in the end game, not the first dungeon I step into.
Despite having a level 50+ and me being very close to level 40 we struggled really hard with just the trash mobs (we never actually got to a boss). In the amount of time that it probably would have taken me to gain a level and a half running around enjoying the world we managed to wipe at least a dozen times before we just got fed up and quit.
This is NOT the experience a first dungeon for the appropriate leveled characters should be like
I don’t expect to never die but I do expect some decent tuning so that I don’t feel so overwhelmed by my experience that I never ever want to set foot in another dungeon again while I play this game… I was really looking forward to being able to do dungeons because everything else in the game is so well done but this is a huge disappointment.
We are still trying to understand the game and getting used to what our professions can do, why are these dungeons so hard that a one or two mistakes can leave you at a waypoint?