Guild Wars 2

Hey folks -

The general advice I’ve always received is that Healing Power isn’t worth it, since the way the numbers add up making adding additional Healing Power fairly negligible.

But considering Healing Power does effect a Guardian’s regen provided by Resolve, I was just wondering if some folks did think that Healing Power would be useful under specific Guardian builds.

Khisanth.2948:

As for Kholer’s add they are definitely intentional.
“Additional ghostly allies will now join Kholer during his encounter.” from the February patch notes.

Added a tl;dr for folks like the above, who clearly missed the point of the initial post.

I see other people are running into Kholer’s large posse of adds after a party wipe, too. It’s a fairly annoying poke in the eye.

Hey folks -

A guildie and I took a bunch of newbies into AC the other day, and…it did not go well. With a few new people in a dungeon, you should expect a couple of wipes, but one irritating piece for us was that if Kholer summoned his adds before the party wipe they stick around and he summons two more at the start up of the fight.

That can’t be intentional, can it?

Kholer in general is pretty newbie-unfriendly. His dodge check would be a good learning tool, if 1) you could see shiney-blue Kohler’s wind-up at all among the shiney blue platform, shiney-blue effects and shiney-blue other ghosts; and 2) you weren’t forced to keep your camera focused on Kholer while fighting other mobs (which, with the camera targetting system, causes you to constantly and erroneously target Kholer). But having to pick off four or five adds at the start of the fight because you didn’t get the fight correct on the first try is awfully punishing for the first explorable dungeon of the game.

I’ve noticed the Champion Vine in Twilight Arbor does the same thing, and I can’t help but think it’s an unintentional after effect of changing the dungeon waypointing system. Do folks agree? Disagree?

tl;dr: After a wipe, Kholer starts the fight with four or more adds instead of the two he starts with normally, is this intentional?

Basically, the war ended because Ash Legion saw the writing on the wall that the dragons were going to be a much bigger threat than the humans. In the face of the dragons, Iron acknowledged that Ash’s diplomacy would likely put the charr on a better threat trajectory. Plus, the Charr control the vast majority of Ascalon now. They’ve pretty much gotten what they wanted out of the war.

Beetle.2476:

1. Never heard of the brand expanding anywhere in the game.

Konig Des Todes is correct, there’s plenty of dialogue box references to the brand expanding. That’s why the charr have so many warbands assigned to the perimeter.

The problem is, the leap the Greatsword does the same blind and does damage. And the shadow step fails so hard and so often, that it’s hard not to compare the two unfavorably – even if Flashing Blade has a slightly lower cooldown.

Aerinndis.2730:

Hubby and I pushed to complete the monthly in about 5 days this month. I suspect the devs thought 5 a day is very doable but didn’t see the O.o aspect when people looked at the 150 total.

That 5 a day assumes the player is on every day of the month. Most players can’t do that. And the other Monthly requirements don’t seem to assume you’re on every day (4-5 Dailies, i.e.). Also, since there’s few indications where the periscopes are over an expansive amount of land, simply looking for the periscopes without the aid of an online map is a chore.

Coupled with the sheer number requirement, I doubt many players have joined you in completing this part of the Monthly. What a shame.

I’ll add my good karma feels to this thread. I’ve really enjoyed the instances from Flame and Frost – especially Rox’s. They were full of character and left me hungry for more.

In fact, I wish they hadn’t been quite so short! I can’t wait to see if some of this event spills out into the regular world, creating new dynamic events and whatnot.

I certainly don’t mind the periscope monthly. Heck, I applaud the fact that the Monthly makes reference to the events going on right now.

But I do agree with those who have said 150, even for a monthly, is too much. Most Monthly requirements can be done in a few days. But 150 periscopes in a few days is pushing it, given their their positioning around the map and how difficult they can be to find even when looking for them. I love running around in the charr areas, and I still rarely run across more than one or two.

In comparison to the other Monthly choices, 150 periscopes is just too much work for most players…even those, like me, who would be entertained killing periscopes for the Monthly.

Hopefuly Robert has fixed her bugs with this upcoming patch. It’s too awful to get to her after all that work and have her DPS check your team from finishing the dungeon.

Apiar.7162:

Orr is not a difficult place. If you are properly traited and decently geared you should have no issues, especially since its been thinned out. What class are you and what build are you using?

Orr is a difficult place. That’s the point. But it becomes less difficult the more experienced you become. Learning what the mobs do, who you don’t want to see in a swarm (ie, who to target first if you can’t run), what to dodge (and how) – those are all things that come with experience.

We’ve all had our fair share of dying in Orr.

I liked the Christmas content. A bunch of stuff showing up in the world map, new content, stuff to do with friends or alone, changes to the scenery. It was really good!

I like the Living Story instance content, but the events going on outside the instances have been fairly dull and nothing feels like it’s changed, despite the story. I don’t feel drawn in. Hopefully that will change soon.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

my main is a female charr
https://dviw3bl0enbyw.cloudfront.net/uploads/forum_attachment/file/51926/Kodin_1.PNG

heh. It’s cool to see a dev’s character. Wonder if I could ever run into her doing Ascalonian Catacombs.

Lion’s Arch does get regular make-overs. Usually in conjunction to whatever worldwide events are going on, like Wintersday.

Yeah, I definitely will be building a thief when Tengu becomes available.

If you haven’t already, check out this thread:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OMG-If-you-only-knew-this-tips-for-new-players/first

I wish I had done that myself when I started playing! Lots of great tips there.

Also, if you ever need an explanation as to something, you can always type /wiki into the chat menu. After the /wiki, type what you want to know about and the game will send you to the GW2 wiki entry on that topic.

Pifil.5193:

Surely they only live and fight because of meat and beer? Remove those and the Molten Alliance would march right into the Black Citadel.

On a practical basis I suppose it’s because of the renown heart, replacing it and removing that content would serve no real purpose beyond making a bit more sense for a month or two.

I always assumed the Living Story was meant to alter the landscape a little. Plus, it’d be neat to see a renown heart altered.

Also, charr fight for their meaty warbands. ;D

hmmm. Have you all tried asking in map chat if someone’s stumbled on it?

Tosha Daydreamer.9251:

digiowl.9620:

Rising Dusk.2408:

/threaten on my Charr makes me smile every time I do it.

Heh, i find the /surprise backflip hilarious. Reminds me of a kitten poking a bug and have it react.

Hahaha, I just logged in on my charr to try that. You’re right, it’s absolutely cute and hilarious. Now I’m off to annoy people by spamming /surprised over and over and over again ^^

The charr /cry is also hillarious. It’s like ANet designed it so you feel embarrassed for making your charr cry.

While making money – if you’re still at all interested in using the Mystic Forge – you can farm dungeon tokens to get the exotics for sale, and throw those into the Forge for free.

Viralseed.9362:

You have a keybind for “Nearest Target” available. You just have to set it in the options. I have a backup key for this. It will not cycle through targets, so it should not be your primary method of targeting an enemy. You cannot select the weakest target.

I have that keybind available. The problem is Wrath always seems to go off right as I get downed, and targets something I would never target. Then it takes a long time to get Wrath on the selected target…which it sometimes ignores anyway.

Yeah, I’ve since run into the Vets, which are entirely new mobs. (That one that provides invulnerability to other mobs is kitten annoying).

It doesn’t look like the regular mobs are changed at all though. Surprising…

Aomine.5012:

You don’t understand charr at all.
For charr, strength is everything, authority only comes to second.
Rytlock a weirdo to other charrs? You joking right?
If you do play a charr, you can tell everyone respects, and even frightened the great tribune of blood legion: Rytlock Brimstone.

The GW2 Wiki says most charr think Rytlock is a bit wierd. NPCs mention it, too.

I would imagine one you get up in the ranks, the colors aren’t mandatory. Or maybe they never are. Also, Rytlock’s armor at least partially the Adamant Guard gear? Isn’t that the more strange thing about him?

…did I miss Destroyers in the content? I understood the Destroyers were specifically not involved in this event. The Flame Legion are certainly in no way immune to burning.

Hey folks,

I’ve come to truly hate the Guardian downed skills…mainly because Wrath is so annoying. Targetting when downed always seems to auto-select the worst possible target for me to rally off of, and the Wrath animation is so kittened long that my character has already taken several hits from the nearly-dead mob that is RIGHT ON TOP OF HIM AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN TARGETTED IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Ahem.

Even when I do select a new target, sometimes Wrath just ignores my selection for several more animation frames, endangering my ability to rally. Meanwhile Symbol of Judgment takes forever to charge and I rarely get to use it. Why isn’t there an option to autoselect the target with the least HP (and in range) while downed? Does anyone else share my annoyance at the downed skills?

Mercury is right that Thief is a more difficult profession to get used to. It’s a high risk, high reward profession. You have to learn the dodge mechanic quickly on Thief, which some players have trouble doing. That being said, Thieves can do some massive damage and their steal mechanic is interesting.

If you’re up for the challenge, go with Thief. You’ll make fast friends with Caithe (a famous Sylvari thief) that way. Rangers aren’t bad, either…but they are a little hindered sometimes by the pet AI. A ton of Sylvari rangers are in my guild, and they are very nice allies to have in parties (I have been “search and rescued” by a pet more often than I care to count!).

Just try it. If ANet has a problem with the name (and it doesn’t seem all that sexual to me), the worst they’ll do is make you change it to something else.

I’ve done AC plenty of times and had a good deal of experience on it before the update. I have to say I enjoy the new AC. It encourages teamwork through its mechanics and fosters an understanding of skillset a player will need to do dungeons. In particular, several bosses act as an untwitchy “dodge check” with long wind ups. (Considering how many players I’ve seen in CoE that “don’t need to learn how to dodge” on Subject Alpha…then find out they do. Dodging’s a main mechanic of the game, I am all for the early dungeons teaching that this is a skill you can’t ignore.)

AC is certainly a challenge. But it’s not an unfair one, even for the level. We have videos of experienced PUGs all on level 35 alts doing the dungeon with ease. As newer players play the dungeon (and come to terms with the fact that learning a dungeon means you’re going to wipe a few times), they’ll develop the skillsets to make them a better player.

TL;DR Ascalonian catacombs is more of a challenge, but that’s fine. Please use it as a chance to learn how to dodge.

Skolia.2408:

I’m a casual PvE player and my friends and I tried the first exploration path of the new AC over the weekend.

The first path is undoubtedly the most difficult path. But except for the final boss, it’s actually relatively unchanged from what it had been pre-patch. PUGs have been failing on protecting Hodgkin forever.

Skolia.2408:

1. A number of times, players fighting a burrow got moved to the other side of a closed door which pretty much meant that the encounter would fail.

That’s a bug. It’s happened to me. Happens when you’re standing on the mound by that door as it dies; when the camera resets, it knocks you behind the door. Pretty sure the devs know about this bug, but it’s a legitimate complaint.

Skolia.2408:

2. Ranged players (ranger/thief with pistols) attacking burrows often got ‘obscured’ messages making the encounter much more difficult than it should be. Melee weapons worked ok (especially non-targeted ones) but more vulnerable classes not being able to stay ranged is a problem.

Not a bug. Range can be obstructed by other targets. The quickest way to take down the mounds is with melee and AOES.

Skolia.2408:

3. The knockdown the gravelings do takes the player (or NPC) out of action for a rather long time and the fact that they can chain this effect is just frustrating. (A number of MMOs put a special buff on a character when effects like this are applied that makes then immune to another application of it for a short time window – 30 or 60 seconds.)

This is frustrating. But the adult gravelings have a medium-to-long wind up before they knock you down and it can be dodged. Also, the graveling knockdown that was added in patch makes up for the fact that there are no more breeders or stalkers summoned by the mounds. In my mind, this section is much easier.

If a player can have stability for this section, it’s definitely recommended.

Skolia.2408:

4. We tried a number of tactics including particular players ‘guarding’ the NPC. Oddly, the warriors had a lot of problems holding aggro with large groups of gravelings. Ranger did not have this issue. Not sure if this is intended.

A good kiter is essential in this portion. The kiter shouldn’t be near the NPC, but should be guiding the gravelings back toward the northern burrow where the other players will take care of them when they eventually get to that burrow (the other four players should deal with the western burrows first). Mobs tend to go for whatever player nearby has the highest toughness, so that can help you select who’s going to be kiting. Even if the kiter fails toward the end, the NPC can take a lot of hits before he goes down.

Also the NPC isn’t supposed to help you fight. He’s busy researching. It’s always been that way.

My charrzooka consumable also got locked in dungeons. That’s kittened. I can understand something that lets you cheat your way through the dungeon like a portal gun or a spy kit, but why ban weapon consumables?

The charrzooka consumable isn’t overpowered – it just gives access to 1200 range to players who don’t have it (like a lot of Guardian builds). There are too many dungeon sections where melee = instant death (and almost none where ranged isn’t viable). Having consumables as an option balanced that out a bit.

Electro.4173:

That WOULD make more sense, certainly, but disabling heart quests probably wouldn’t sit well with people.

I figured the heart could be reset to something else while the Invasion was going on.

Nimmi.1650:

Not even the dragons could get in the way of our meat. :P

Not when there are Cowtapults around. But dredge and flame legion are harder to hit. ;D

I haven’t run into the Molten Gunners yet. What do they do? Are they dredge or charr?

The OP has a point in that Arah’s rewards are disproportionately bad to the difficulty and length of the dungeon. If you get as far as Lupy and wipe, that’s probably at least an hour of your time. You can wipe multiple times, spend hours in the dungeon, and you get nothing for what you accomplished.

Heck, even if you complete the two hour dungeon, you get the same thing you get for any other dungeon. And it’s not like you can purchase something super cool with Arah tokens. Aside from the skins (which are neat but not amazing), there’s nothing to write home about when it comes to the armor or weapons.

The rewards just don’t make Arah worth it.

I really did enjoy the Rox instance. I’m glad this patch provided some fun new content, even if shortlived. I’m surprised that the Living Story hasn’t altered any of the meta events going on, like Meatoberfest, though.

Nimmi.1650:

Another thing I really love is how much improved our Allied AI is. Both Braham and Rox hold themselves up pretty well. They actually know how to heal!!!

That’s true! I’ve only done Rox’s story, but she didn’t go down the entire time. Almost any other NPC aside from Rytlock would have.

I’m wondering if the dredge and charr mobs from the Molten Alliance are behaving any differently than they used to. I mean, they look kitten cool, but are those new armor and weapon sets actually changing anything?

In fighting the Molten Alliance mobs, I’m not noticing any difference. But it does make me wonder: Are the Flame Legion mobs getting more toughness from wearing that armor? Are the Dredge doing any burning damage or something? Or are we just fighting the same mobs, just reskinned?

Just curious.

With refugees spewing out of Diessa Plateau and Flame Legion Portals appearing right outside of Butcher’s Block, how is it that Meatoberfest is still going on? I know the charr love meat…but I’m pretty sure they love living and fighting more. As is, Butcher’s Block is a giant drunken target that will probably be captured by the Molten Alliance any minute now.

I was sure the Living Story was going to update these events (as much as I love Meatoberfest). It’s really bizzare and lore-breaking to me to see otherwise.

I’d appreciate some more advice on dodging the red circles. Do you get splashed with damage even outside of the circles? I swear I’m taking damage from the AOEs even when outside the circles, and I don’t think I’m being hit by his single target spit, either (I do know he does that during his AOE spray).

Do his circles further away land after the ones closest to him? If you have to dodge, is it best to dodged toward him, away or to the side? Can the AOEs be blocked or reflected?

I think Lupy is a fair fight, and I don’t think he needs to be nerfed. But it is frustrating to repeatedly wipe on him, since Arah is so time-consuming and you get utterly no rewards for getting to him (and there’s not even a waypoint near him for when you wipe).

Glad to hear it. Been waiting for this fix for a while now.

Automatic camera rotation while defeated will no longer restart after the camera is moved.

Sometimes, it’s the small things that are nicest.

I’ve never heard of this, either…though I suspect someone might know if some more information were supplied. It may be living story related if you’re in those areas. Where were you when you saw the icon?

Darth Llama.9217:

seriously, who thinks this is fun?

Me. I found this part of the story to be one of the most fun aspects of the game. It was innovative and entertaining. A change of pace from “go slash through this hoard of undead before the next one.” Sometimes the game throws you a curve. This is one of them.

Wish I could do it again!

As for question no. 2, Crystal Desert is a very active server for east coast players. It’s pretty full, though (apparently all the major LGBT guilds set up shop there)…you may have trouble getting on. I’m sure you’ll have fun whereever you sign onto.

Outside of groups where everyone in the party knows the path like the back of the hand and knows how to speed through it, speed runs always devolve into slow, non-fun constant faceplanting.

I’d rather just fight my way through, personally. Even on the dungeon paths I can do with my eyes closed. It’s more fun that way, and you get to spend time with people.

I like the Dailies because they give me direction if I’m online just to goof around. And even then, I can accomplish most Dailies by just doing what I was going to do anyway.

The first story is good at teaching how important the dodge mechanic is in this game. When someone winds up for an attack, you need to get out of the way. Dodging is a must learn skill in GW2.

Since folks are there in the dungeon with you, you have some leeway to make mistakes and heal yourself (or someone can assist you to get off the ground). If you wipe, you can learn from what you saw of the patterns to help you next time. The first couple of times in dungeons can be difficult, but you’ll be thankful by the end game that you learned the skills that dungeons teach.

The OP’s rant makes me glad that I’m not part of his group. Sounds like s/he has a problem with communication, which would easily solve a lot of the problems listed.

And if you’re with a group of casual players just going at a dungeon for fun, a lot of this stuff is just fine.

While the OP makes some good points, things like “No scepter Guardians, no thieves” kill any chance that this thread should get a sticky for etiquette.

Yeah, charr life isn’t all about war. It’s about doing what’s best for your legion and community. To that end, Ash Legion has taken the perogative of making peace with the humans happen. The charr really are focused on taking care of one another.

BobbyStein.2315:

Thanks again for all the constructive feedback. It matters.

Thanks for responding to the community. I’m pretty sure most of us are trying to be constructive, even though it may not always seem like it. I certainly appreciated seeing your posts appear on this thread.

Since you’ve encouraged us to talk about the writing on this event, I’d like to mention I really like the charr refugees that have appeared in Lion’s Arch. The early NPCs wouldn’t really say much at all (I felt like the “Heralds” were as helpful to an adventurer as being hit by a brick), but the little charr cub I found truly endearing.

I’d be a nice tease if things started to change on the map…but they really haven’t. Butcher’s Block is still going as if nothing is going on. You never saw refugees actually fleeing from the winds or being chased by the Flame Legion/Dredge (those would have made nice events). You hardly interacted with the refugees at all, and when you did, they had nothing to say.

Honestly, if this was a teaser, it should have been rolled out quietly. No announcement. Then the players would be going nuts trying to figure out what it all means before getting hit with the real content.

I agree with an earlier poster that when you’re learning dungeons, you should do it with groups that are not going to skip. Skipping when dungeons are new is a recipe for faceplanting multiple times, not learning the skills you need for higher level dungeons, and having no fun.

Here’s my suggestions:
Citadel of Flame – by far the easiest dungeon.
Twilight Arbor – more difficult for squishier characters, but still easy with a group that will teach you.
Ascalonian Catacombs – despite people hitting some growing pains, this dungeon isn’t overly difficult and is a good learning dungeon.
Sorrow’s Embrace – Path 1 is enjoyable. Path 3 will teach the value of terrain. Path 2 will teach you that some paths are too long.
Honor of the Waves – A longer dungeon, but enjoyable.
Caudicus’ Manor – Swarms of silvers. Everywhere. I find this dungeon to be a chore.
Crucible of Enternity – This dungeon can be fun, but certain obsticles can be punishing. People who haven’t learned the timing on dodging Subject Alpha’s attacks will drag out those fights.
Arah – I’ve still not completed all the paths, in part because of the bugs on Simin. Lupy is a fun but difficult fight. Your first time on any of these paths will probably take about 3 hours. It’s quite an investment.

Daelwyn.3967:

I really like SE – it needs more love.

People don’t like Sorrow’s Embrace because they remember P2 being such a pain in the kitten. Also, you know, Dredge.

A good Ranger can be incredibly effective in dungeons. (I’ve certainly known a few that will save my Guardian bacon on occassion.) But I can understand how a player that doesn’t manage their pet well will hinder a dungeon run. Even a pro Ranger, because the AI on pets isn’t great, will on occassion have a pet “be bad” and go aggro a random Champ because…who knows. On the plus side, the pets can end up being great sacrificial lambs and targets of things you would never want a player to be effected by: unavoidable stonetouches, crystal prisons, ect. That can spare other players (and the Ranger) time to DPS away.

The poor pet AI aside, however, any player that doesn’t know the mechanics of his/her class or the game is going to be a hinderence to the party.

There are a couple of sections in CoF that are difficult, but none of them are in Path 1. Certain parts can fail because of poor coordination (the Magg bomb section, the protect Magg from assassins section, the P3 torch lighting), some are just difficult and annoying Silver spam (looking at you P3), and the orb run in P3 is unforgiving if you don’t know it and a thief can’t sneak you through.

There are tough sections in CoF, to be sure. And I love CoF as a dungeon. But it certainly doesn’t deserve to be one of the higher level dungeons.