Guild Wars 2

I think the difficulty of the boss is just fine. The birds are a definite pain in the kitten but if the party helps each other out, then there is no reason there would be a wipe/death. The first time I did HotW story was in a 3 man party, and we had no issue with this boss after we learned from our mistakes (1 wipe).

But knowing your dungeon history, it sounds like you’re trying to attempt a solo challenge.

Sovta.4719:

haviz.1340:

Sovta.4719:

Even if you buy it good players will figure out you are noob when doing harder dungeons.

It’s not like that people who have done it legit are any better than those who have bought or failed at Simin.

pdfrod.1948:

Exactly. So why buy it?

Achievemet points.

Yea, players who killed simin regular way must be noobs.
Achievement points (if you mean Hobby dungeon explorer) are mostly bugged anyway.

Hobby Dungeon Explorer is working.

Just because you DC as the starter doesn’t mean your entire party gets kicked. You’ll get kicked if the starter leaves the party completely, or switches to a different character. A friend of mine opened a dungeon and then after finishing, logged off. It didn’t boot anyone, and another party member wandered inside the dungeon for a good hour or so and didn’t get booted.

I openly welcome both classes, so long as they utilize their utilities and help support the team.

DancingPenguins.9875:

Why would people join a first timer’s run and expect nothing to go wrong?

Because people don’t read.

Countless times I’ve had someone join my group thinking it was for a different level fractal, or thinking we were going to skip something despite it being in the description of the LFG.

Report them for scamming.

I don’t know if it’s because of the patch or not, but I’ve been getting kicked from a lot more dungeons. I like to do dungeons to level my alts because it’s simple and easy. I have a Dungeon Master title I display on my alts most of the time. But all people see is the level when I initially join. Hell, I just got kicked from a CoF path 2 for being on a level 78. That’s 2 under 80.

With the changes to CoF path 2, it’s even more brain dead easy, guys. I have a feeling people are becoming less tolerant of under 80s. It’s no wonder that newer players have terrible experiences in dungeons. They get crappy treatment, and there’s no tolerance for anyone that may seem new.

Subject Alpha is a matter of learning how to dodge his attacks. I took a guildie with me into CoE last night, he had never done it before. I told him the different attacks and when to dodge/walk out. He survived.

As for the comment about ’zerker sets. I do Subject Alpha on two of my squishiest characters. My Elementalist and my Mesmer, who are both primarily geared in ’zerker (minus accessories). I rarely die fighting Subject Alpha.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case. There are some people I know that have insane RNG/luck/whatever. I’m talking rares/exotics or cores/lodestones every chest, or from mobs.

Starting to get quite irritating, and it’s beyond the stage of “grats.” It’s now “shut up, we know you get good stuff.”

If they make the golem boss have a chest, they need to alter his mechanics. It is easily AFKable as it is now.

Not to my knowledge. I believe the way it works is something along the lines of the instance you were in is utilizing the old build, hence why new build players cannot enter.

I just did path 2 and 3. Nothing different. Bring some reflects and most enemies butcher themselves. Also condition removal.

He is not impossible to kill. I did all three paths yesterday after the patch. Learn his attacks and know when to dodge.

Mossman tree and the Svanir rock have been fixed I believe.

I recorded a video to observe his patterns after hearing about the changes. I’m not sure if this is the exact case or not, but he seemed to do his AoE agony after his ice shatter move on the ground. After the second or third shatter of the ice, he started his instant AoE agony attack. Though the video isn’t that long, it was about 1:31, and in that time he did it 4 times. 3/4 times it was after the ice shatter. 1/4 it was after he kneeled to heal.

haviz.1340:

Lyer.1905:

No the stats should be the same, what you guys want is basically the argument against ascended gear. No one should be forced to run Arah for the best stats, only the look if they want it.

There’s a sense of prestige in having Arah gear, if you see someone with a full set you know they did it for the challenge and not so much for the stats. Besides having the skin is good enough, I’ve had people take one look at my character in pugs and have said they were glad to have a good player in the run.

But you have to grind fotm for better jewelry, so why shouldn’t you be forced to grind the hardest dungeon for the best armour/weapons?

With the introduction of laurels, you don’t need to enter FotM to get Ascended Rings.

I haven’t noticed anything different in my loot gain.

DancingPenguins.9875:

You weren’t supposed to be alive when you have 2 people who simply drop everything and res. Never have more than 1 person res, learn to res a few %, back up, then go back in again. If you are giving bosses 2 stationary targets for 30+ seconds, then it’s your own fault for dying.

If you are dying in fractals and AC, you are doing it wrong. Stop face tanking anything and learn to hit and run. Unless you are running all necros, you have access to reflect/block skills. So use them accordingly and position as such.

But… but, my Warrior and Guardian can just sit there face tanking and laugh at the mobs.

But in all seriousness. The change may have increased the difficulty to the people who are completely new to a dungeon. But if you are an experienced player, I feel like it’s your duty to help them as much as you can. Team work and yadda yadda.

It also helps to actually learn about what you are fighting. I did some CoE yesterday and it was going smoothly until we went onto path 1 (yes path 1 – the easiest). Some of the people I was with didn’t know how to dodge Alpha’s earth spikes, and they kept pointing the boss at the party, making it chaos.

If you are new to a dungeon or haven’t learned everything there is to know about an encounter, open your eyes and ears. If you don’t know something, speak up. I’m not spouting information to look like a know it all, I’m saying it because it’ll help you and everyone else stay alive.

I was told that people only did 26 as opposed to say 20/22 because it was the level where rings would no longer show up as non infused. So no, it doesn’t have to be 26. 1X, 2X, 3X, 4X.

You still get 4 chances. Dailies are still separated by tier.

Prowler.2589:

So is daily limited to once per character now instead if tiers?

At level 50 i could do 5 dailies, now I can only do 1? Since rewards are based on my reward level..

Your fractal level is still character dependent, so you would still get the dailies from running them on other characters.

It’ll probably be harder on the newer players, but for the experienced, it’s not likely to change much.

Ashur Etil Lani.4518:

Ursan.7846:

To answer your question, I do!

Alpha is one of the more challenging bosses in the game. One of the most enjoyable too, because make one mistake and you’re dead. People say constantly dodging is boring. To me though, nailing the dodge every. Single. Time. Is exhilarating in its own way.

Of course that’s just me. I’d run CoE a ton more if more people ran it…

I love path 2 CoE, if its with 4 heavies and 1 squishie. Why because the heavies don’t need to dodge. The squishie does his/her ballerina thing and dodges the icespikes, the heavies keep each other alive by shout healing and stack on each other. Down goes alpha. No dodging needed. And as an added bonus you feel like a real warrior not some kind of acrobat/dancing girl.

Does that mean you’re some kind of acrobat/dancing girl whenever you do have to dodge?

As for the main topic. I used to hate CoE because it took so long and people kept dying. Now that people know the fights a little better, it’s easier to steamroll through it.

This is supposed to be fixed in the patch coming on the 28th.

I’ve noticed that skips can happen in videos due to issues when rendering it in the first place. If you don’t already watch your video through after rendering it, do it and if you notice skips or issues, render it again.

@DanH What cheats is he using? This video isn’t even about fractals.

Khisanth.2948:

ArcTheFallen.7682:

Zogyark.4597:

Been a while since I done this path but I believe you have to drag some mini golems with a gun to the boss so it explodes on the boss and therefore damage it faster?

You are thinking of the wrong boss. That boss you are talking about is the husk boss. Path 3 has a destroyer boss that can only be attacked after firing 3 lasers from a distance and then wailing on him. It’s hard because the shield pops up again very quickly and you have lava surrounding you which leads to a lot of waypoint zerg rushing if you get pushed out and die.

Also, with the new patch this path is going to be horrid because you can’t individually waypoint anymore. Once two of your attackers die. The whole team will have to wipe—which will suck.

… and fully reset to boss?

I don’t think the whole team has to wipe. They just have to drop combat. This means having to run out of the room. It would also mean that it would be better to kill the Champion Destroyer Crab otherwise you’ll have to run pass in both directions.

You don’t even have to run out of the room, going back to a laser or to a corner of the room is usually enough to put you out of combat.

Dee Jay.2460:

I always cry a little inside when I see my Smoke Screen next to a Guardian’s Wall of Reflection.

Not only does Wall of Reflection reflect projectiles rather than absorbing them it also lasts a lot longer and has a similar cooldown.

I cry when I don’t see Guardians use Wall of Reflection. Yes, I know some who don’t use it.

The max level of fractals seems to be 80. You can apparently go higher if you don’t leave the dungeon, but the number goes back down to 80 after you exit. I would say that leveling your fractal level is worthwhile. The loot can be nice, and you often get rares (unless your RNG luck is just terrible) or cores/lodestones.

As for the monthly, I believe it gives 20 Mystic Coins and 10 Jugs of Liquid Karma + some 40-50s (?) for completion.

Where was the post from ANet condoning the AC Path 1 exploit?

Boss exploits usually wind up being a result of laziness. After doing something multiple times already, the encounter is no longer challenging. For example: I don’t see Subject Alpha and Lupicus to be difficult. It’s more challenging having to res the other people who don’t know/can’t dodge as well. However, exploits to get to your final destination are usually more of a hassle than it’s worth.

It is quite a plight for the people who want to do the boss the normal way, or wish to learn it.

You don’t have to be 80, but there may be some that don’t like to take under 80s because of lack of exotic armor/traits/whatnot. You will automatically get boosted up level wise, to 80 inside the dungeon.

Bukkebruse.2810:

Yeah, just run p1 for tokens. 2 and 3 are just too long now that they’ve “fixed” them.

What was fixed in 2 and 3? I haven’t done HotW in awhile, but I’ve done it after the huge map exploits were fixed. 2 actually seems quite fast. The last time I did 2, I just skipped one of the dogs. Then after the two quaggan guy boss, swam straight to the final boss.

When the lasers come to the very beginning, the one before the first horizontal laser will disappear. You can then jump in and it’ll reappear behind you. Just jump over each horizontal laser while between the two vertical ones. I’ve also done it by hugging the right side wall and I’ve seen others simply stand between two vertical ones and going through unscathed. It seems to work randomly though.

Was in a party earlier that had started AC story but was waiting at the entrance. Joined later and others that joined later were able to get in.

In terms of stealth fixes: I know the main wall exploit to skip straight to Lupicus has been fixed in Arah.

Ah, thanks.

Though wouldn’t Lion’s Arch -> The Grove stay the same, as you stay the max level you are, and don’t get downscaled?

Forgot about WvWvW bonus, nevermind.

It’s been awhile since I played my Necro, but I’ve noticed that my life force pool keeps draining when switching zones.

For instance I was at 80% in Frostgorge. After going through Heart of the Mists and back to Lion’s Arch, I had 58%. When I went to The Grove, I had 41%, then after porting to Malchor’s Leap, I had 31%.

I thought that it was supposed to keep whatever amount you have until you actually use Death Shroud? Is this normal?

If they aren’t doing any shady business such as kicking people who were there the entire run, then I don’t see any major issue with this. I don’t think they’re violating the ToS. If a person is that desperate or dumb enough to pay for a dungeon slot, then that really is their issue.

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

First boss in path 3 of Arah hasn’t been dropping for me the last couple of times I did it.

If you are referring to the hunter, the hunter no longer drops, a change that was meant to counter shard farming. However, if you aren’t getting drops from crusher, perhaps you aren’t getting kill credit, or in OP’s case, dying and losing your contribution.

What profession are you? I’ve noticed that certain skills will almost always trigger a ruined node.

For example, if I use Arcane Shield on my Elementalist and it triggers the damage from the third hit explosion, I will get a ruined node. On my Warrior, if I use the Last Stand trait (breaks stun + stability now), it will always give me a ruined node if something attempts to daze/stun/etc. me. This didn’t happen when it didn’t break stun.

Fearys.9026:

Hmm, once again i have to add something – grubs does spawn on Randal. You just have to be lucky with that or kill him before the second try (if you won’t kill lupi at the first one).

That, or you can trigger the cutscene and then get Randall killed outside, which is what my party always did.

Necromancers tend to be built around conditions. Condition removal or application. Removal in CM is extremely helpful, especially against Cutpurses, who deal 12 stacks of bleed in one hit. Also, Plague + Well of Darkness is a 25s blind from a sole character. I don’t recall stability being that useful in CM, except for path 1 and 3, if you try running the last section of the dungeon straight to the final boss.

No one character is “along for the ride” in dungeons. If you’re still alive and dealing damage or helping your party, you’re a part of the team as much as any other profession.

Shakki.3219:

The base attack doesn’t really help you alot… My Necro got 3488 base Attack and about 3800 with nourishments and the damage is not comparable at all to my thief who got 3300 atk

If people say Simin is a DPS check/requires a lot of DPS, I would imagine having some sort of bare minimum/recommended base attack will be helpful. However, if you are a condition based character, then obviously a base attack damage won’t apply to you. Rather a base condition damage instead.

If base attack/condition damage doesn’t help, then what are you doing damage with?

Wow, what a bump.

On another note, I did CM with 4 Guardians about a week ago. It was the most lol-worthy thing. Each person set up Wall of Reflection after one another, and enemies decimated themselves.

A recent patch changed the first boss, Aldus. Whether or not it was intentional is unknown. Previously, he would sometimes spawn random silver mobs or sometimes not spawn them at all. Now they seem to spawn every time you fight him.

pdfrod.1948:

It’s getting harder and harder to find a group to do this path. The few groups that are doing this, don’t want to take me along because I’m a Guardian and can’t DPS as much as other classes

That’s most likely the way you built your character. Though forcing players to go a certain amount of DPS seems questionable on ANet’s part. The guardian I went with had about 3400 base attack, and as far as I know, he didn’t use berserker gear. It was more than my warrior’s which is 3100 ish. My own guardian has 2899 base, but with the way that the boons work in my build, the might stacks get me up to ~3200+. I would say 3000 is at least the bare minimum you should hope to achieve.

I was able to do this path a few days ago. We wound up trying the 4-1 method from the start. But the party consisted of 2 Warriors (1 semi glass cannon, 1 tanky/support), 1 Guardian, 1 Necro, and 1 Thief. I think the only person who had main gear as berserkers was the thief, but everyone else wasn’t.

We couldn’t DPS her down in one go from 50% however, so there was a bit of spark management going on.

Ayrilana.1396:

How is he unclear about gender?

I assume he means that gender can include a larger range, not just male and female. Which is true.

5. Utilize the time that Toxx is out. Toys aren’t spawning at this time, so just have one person lure her away and have everyone else upgrade and build.

neon.4863:

Just tried it a couple of times. Really hard to coordinate with random strangers. We couldn’t even get past round 6, let alone survive 50 rounds of this.

This requires really intense coordination that you can really only have with a group of people you know (who will take “orders” from a leader) and that is able to develop a strategy for coordination. Frustrating with random PUGs. Will probably not attempt the achievements, doing it solely for the giant gifts.

It’s only 10 rounds. 5 waves per round. Total of 50 waves for the achievement. You can keep failing and doing more waves if you want the achievement. However, the dolyak one will probably require a lot more coordination.

But yes, ANet dropped the ball on this one.

The party I was with realized how it was supposed to work, so we started splitting up the tasks to build and defend to different people. Then we utilized Toxx times to build a mega defense.

I imagine that once more people experience the Toypocalypse, it’ll be easier to coordinate with PUGs. Most people entering now don’t know how it works.

But yeah, it is kinda WTF that we can’t do this with friends.

Pretty much me every time I see my mini griffon following behind me.