I’m at scale 30 and have done many dailies. I’ve seen a total of 4 dc’s and 1 anomaly bug that wouldn’t let us finish a fractal. At least one of those dc’s was very likely on the player’s end. The odds are highly in your favor that you can finish 7 fractals without issue.
I don’t have a Thief so I can’t elaborate very much, but I find them to be quite helpful in dungeons. Their stealth and smoke skills come in handy in numerous situations. I love that Time Warp skill (if that’s what it’s called), great full party dps buff. Plus thieves usually seem to survive well while dealing admirable damage.
I know there is a story behind the Jade Maw. Is there established lore for some of the other fractals or enemies? Urban Battlefield seems based on established events, mind you I did not play GW1 although I have read some of the lore and find it quite interesting. I’d really like to know Mossman’s story and in depth stories of other fractals if there are such stories.
Each ascended ring should be salvaged into 3-5ectos and a shard+globe of the mists. I have 7 acc soulbound rings i stored on one character that i have no use for and 5 soulbound ones that are wasting storage slots, anet, find something!
ANet doesn’t want you making easy money, so that won’t happen. If this were ever implemented, the value of ectos would drop, especially as the bulk of the playerbase moves ever higher in fractal levels, with much better drop rates relative to the lower levels, with everyone either dumping their ectos on the TP or saving them up for themselves and buying less and less from the market. In other words, you’d lose out on the money train unless you cashed in immediately after the salvaging option was implemented.
ANet wants you to spend money, that’s why revive orbs are near-mandatory for the higher fractals.
Yeah, 3-5 ectos is a bit much. I’d be happy if they just salvaged for mist essence drops, and gives back your infusion of course.
Also on a slightly related note: this will make odd numbered fractals (1/3/5/7/9) completely pointless as no one will run them.
Good ridance then.
Also, the drops are individual, it’s very easy for the game to give level 1 drops for a level 1 player in a level 30 fractal run.
Did you code this game? If not then you have no idea of how “easy” it is for a level 30 fractal monster to give level 1 drops to a level 1 player, while still giving level 30 drops to the level 30 player.
Lol, he doesn’t have code the game to either know simple basics or realize that this system is already in place…
My point is, people are not going to want to do fractals far above their tier. Why would I want to put myself through a level 30 fractal just to get from tier 5 to tier 6? People keep thinking that all these tier 1’s ‘noobz’ are suddenly going to be wanting in their tier 30-40 groups. I just don’t see that happening. When I start putting my alt into fractals I’ll be looking for the quickest and easiest route to gaining levels.
I really don’t see why level 1’s are going to want to join level 30 fractals. With the update they’ll have plenty of people in their own level range. I already have 20 AR on an alt who isn’t even tier 2 yet, so I’ll be able join a range all the way to 30 or so. Although there’s no way I’m putting myself through tier 30 pugs fractals for anything less than tier 26.
In my experience, fractal loot beats AC hands down. I receive 4-8 rare, the occasional exotic and lodestones every fractal run. AC never comes close to that for me.
I think it’s all a matter of RNG, as an example, last night I did both fractals 31 and 32 and got a measly 1 gold worth of trash ( including some very poor salvages.) + no lodestones.
Doing all 3 paths of AC takes a fraction of the time, and I would have made more money.
The thing is, there is a certain amount of money that you can receive from AC that isn’t affected by RNG (unless the path bugs of course).. the boss mobs drop certain amount money, the champion breeders drop a certain amount of money, at the end you receive a certain amount of money. These factors are only affected by one thing -If you are using a food that causes 40% more money to drop from mobs. But you never receive less.
When doing fractals, it’s hit and miss, some days you come out more profitable, other days you feel you’ve wasted a good deal of time. When doing AC, you can always have a minimum expectation of the amount of money you will make for the 3 paths, anything on top (rare/exotic drops) is a bonus. So it’s good (if you can) to do both, maybe on those off days when fractals hates you, pop in and do a quick AC for guaranteed money.
Yes it’s definitely all RNG, but in my experience fractals 26+ are always more profitable than AC. I have never had only a gold worth of loot. If I actually sold all my ectos I’d almost always have over 1 gold right there. Not to mention the exotic drops I receive in ForM that I don’t in AC. But then again, it could just be luck.
Good advice in this thread. I am also a new guardian that like fractals and looking for an endgame build. One thing caught my ear, Prayer of Lyssa. I have chosen a Sylvari for my Guardian. Did I mess up?
Hmm, that does sound nice and what I’m looking for. The zerker gear scares me a little, but I could at least give it a try. Do any parts of the build hinge on crits? Just wondering if I could switch out the zerker gear and still use the build if need be.
So I’m currently leveling my first Guardian. I’ve been maining warrior and I’m tier 28 in fractals. I’d like to focus my Guardian build toward fractals and I’d like to hear what the pros have to say. I’m definitely leaning towards tanky over dps, but I’m somewhat ignorant on Guard builds.
I find pugging to be not so bad with fractals. Granted I’m only at 28, but the slow progression at least gives a learning curve. I have only pugged to increase levels and I run into fewer bad players the higher level I get. Some people have an off game, some have bad luck (constant aggro), but I think most people either know what’s going on or are willing to follow direction to learn. The worst really is if someone does mess up and another person starts in with the insults, then there’s an argument and it’s all downhill from there.
In my experience, fractal loot beats AC hands down. I receive 4-8 rare, the occasional exotic and lodestones every fractal run. AC never comes close to that for me.
Sometimes it can take a while to find a group even at mid-level. I’m at 28, it took 45 minutes to pull a group together for level 27 at primetime. Can’t wait for the update.
If you want to add me and send me a message, use mail if I’m not on, I’ll add you back and run you through when I see you’re on. My guild is still low level so I run with them sometimes, and it always seems like it’s someone’s first fractal. Seven low level fractals for the monthly goes pretty quick.
Why do some of you think that level 1 noobs are going to instantly want to invade into your level 40 fractals? With this new system there will be plenty of people in their own level range to play with. People are so bent on raging they can’t see a good thing right in front of them. And thank goodness for the DC fix, long overdue on that one.
I personally can’t wait for the update. I’ve waited for close to an hour to find some of the odd numbered fractals. Now finding a group will be quick and easy. On the lfg site, I’ll probably just put a requisite of 20-30, 30-40 and so on.
Also can’t wait to put my low fractal level guildies into a high level and watch them wipe. 3:)
I’m at Fractal scale 26. When I do my scale 10 daily I switch to MF gear because it’s easy enough that I don’t need to be optimized. Sometimes I catch crap for it.
About a week ago I was doing the level 10 daily with pugs who were at scale 10. Every level we stopped for a minute and I explained the new scale 10 mechanics to them. I think I fell twice throughout the run, less than everyone except the guardian (I’m a warrior). Then after the Maw, someone calls me selfish for using MF, another person chimed in with ‘yep’. I think it’s pure crap that people act like this. I held my own, supported the team with Shouts and probably rezzed the 2nd most. Haters gonna hate.
This is totally off topic. But I was just wondering why you use signet heal? I have a similar warrior build and I use Healing Rush because it heals more. I’d just like to know if I’m missing something and if I should switch.
my question is, what else are you going to use that gold to do? unless your really saving for a legendary its easy to come up with the cash to infuse the back in a few weeks.
did I need to spend ~85 gold for my quiver + infused? no, but what else was I going to do with the cash i made in the last 2 weeks? i don’t want a commander title and have all exotics for every slot on both my toons, so why not make it.
My sentiments exactly. If you have the gold, full Exotics and do fractals, it’s a no brainer. 60G is a drop in the bucket toward your Legendary. Might as well make your fractal grinding that much easier.
its like 60g+ for a +5 number to your back pack, a simple +5 number lol what a nice idea.
It’s waaaaayyy more than that for a Legendary with a +0.
not only this will change but you’re getting a shiny skin… what do you get from spending 60g+ on a backpack? nothing else but seeing your weapon/armor clipping with it.
I realise Legendaries will be buffed, but people have still been getting them long before they knew that.
I agree that it’s expensive, but the +5 AR is noticeable. More noticeable than what the Ascended stats provide over Exotic. Probably more noticeable than what the extra stats on buffed Legendaries will as well.
Wow, I’ve hardly seen any of those problems. I’m tier 26 and have done tons of below my tier fractals. I’ve seen a few minor bugs but the only bad ones I’ve seen are about 3 total disconnects and a bug on Cliffside where the hammer runner fell off a cliff and the hammer became stuck in midair preventing us from advancing.
Giving players the option to choose their fractals is a terrible idea. We’d end up running the same 3 fractals every single time.
While I don’t disagree, having “You can only equip one of this item per character” in the item description is unwieldy, lengthy, and cumbersome. Having a shorthand term for it is important. It is just like the term ‘Soulbound’. I never played any other true MMO prior to GW2, and so I had no idea what that meant. However, instead of soulbinding something and then complaining when I couldn’t move it to an alt, I looked it up online so I was prepared. I have never had an issue with that strategy, and I think using the resources available to you is important in a game with countless nuance functionalities like this (Or WoW, or any other MMO, really). It’s just the same as looking up an MF recipe before throwing your stuff into it; you really should make sure that you know what you’re getting before you do it.
Same here. This is my first MMO, so I had no idea what soulbound, unique and all that was. I looked it all up on the wiki.
Not all are soulbound. But when they are you just salvage for ectos and sell the rune, easy profit.
yeah i got one armor and sold for 11 G in fractal 6 ._.
But usually i get exotics without sigils and acountbound (with norn cultural skin or karma skin in case of armors) so basically almost worthless…
I just keep them so when i have 4 i put them in the forge….
Salvaging is really costly lately (see gem cost).
For that i wonder also, if the only thing i want is a fractal skin, its better to stick to 20 or go 26+ …..
Any idea?
I honestly don’t know, I would just assume the higher, the better.
11g is nice. I’ve had 2 that sold for over 4 g, plus I seem to get tons of cores.
I agree it is quite a price hike compared to other to other +5’s. Guess I’m just looking at it as if you want the max AR, you’re gonna have to pay out the kitten for it.
As to better try to answer your 2nd question from my point of view without a blanket statement. I think people are going full +30 because a) they can, and b) it is very helpful.
People actually jump through all the crazy hoops to obtain a Legendary which at present has absolutely no affect on gameplay. So it doesn’t surprise me that people will pay a ridiculous amount for something that actually does affect gameplay.
1) Ascended is supposed to a tier above Exotic, something like the armor equivalent of Legendaries (when they get buffed). In that light, the expense makes sense.
2) A tangible ROI will be subjective. But every +5 AR makes a noticeable difference. +30 AR isn’t enough for the higher level fractal runners.
It’s how it should have been in the first place, they deviated from their normal token system because they wanted players to beta test it for them. Now that they feel they’ve taken care of the major exploits we can actually work towards rings.
For the record I’m not against this token system as RNG sucks, I just want a way to turn useless ordinary fractal relics into worthwhile Pristine ones.
We added the pristine relic to afford those who haven’t been able to get a ring the opportunity, and for those hoping to get a specific ring the ability to do that.
Why didn’t you use a token system in the first place?
Can we turn normal relics into Pristine ones or not?
I wouldn’t say ordinary Fractal Relics are useless at all. It takes over 1800 just to make a base level Ascended backpack. Think how many it will take for armor or weapons. Personally I’d continue to save my Fractal Relics even if they let you buy rings with them. I’ll just use the Pristine Fractal Relics for rings, it’s not like it’ll really take that long to get 10.
The thing that actually is useless are all the extra rings many of us have laying around. I’d like to be able to trade in a ring for a Pristine Fractal Relic, I think that would be quite fair. At the very least, let us salvage them.
Ok, we tried a little different approach to the Ice Elemental last night and it ended up being my easiest fight versus him yet. We still stayed together. Basically we had two guys dedicated to fighting vets when they were aggro’d while the other 3 of us kept on the Ice Elemental. There were no deaths and only one knockdown. This was only one battle so it could’ve just been an anomaly, but I’ll try it again when it comes up.
Yes it benefits because at 26, the drop rate is the same it seems as 24, but because you are getting an infused ring 100% when it drops on 26 it’s better where as if you do 24 you could get an uninfused at the same drop rate.
In any case I don’t see why you’d do 24 instead of 26.
What fractal level are you? You may not be qualified to hypothesize this answer.
Level 30 umad?
Lol, not I. TC shall determine your worthiness upon his return.
Yes it benefits because at 26, the drop rate is the same it seems as 24, but because you are getting an infused ring 100% when it drops on 26 it’s better where as if you do 24 you could get an uninfused at the same drop rate.
In any case I don’t see why you’d do 24 instead of 26.
What fractal level are you? You may not be qualified to hypothesize this answer.
New adds spawn at 50% on the door freezing version? I’ve only had that version once getting to level 21 and doing numerous tier 20 dailies. I’d like to better understand what you’re saying as to deal with that one when it comes up.
yep, there seems to be a trigger such that at 50% of door ‘hp’ and again when door is destroyed, that a fresh wave of dredge spawns on top of you.
I didn’t realize this until last night and it made things alot easier.. At 50% (or you can just as easily tell by the popup of adds) and again at zero %, just run back down the ramp (or just fight them there) and the mobs are a lot easier to deal with. Thankfully they dont respawn on other than these two triggers, so it makes things more manageable.
And thank you for the input on the other fractal parts As for the bomb part, do a couple of the “non-runners” head up to the door to take aggro and bring those mobs back down the stairs, so that the 1-2 bomb runners don’t have to deal with aggro while by the door?
Yes, in my group we all go up there to get Dredge aggro. I run a shout heal/remove condition build so I stay close to runners to keep them healthy. We used to do the free-for-all everyone takes a bomb like the other guy said, but that’s when I usually see people die. Ever since we’ve been doing 1 or 2 bomb runners, it goes much smoother. But everyone has their preferences.
Also keep in mind that the rings are Unique, meaning you can only equip only of that ring. However, you can equip two of the same ring if one ring is the non-infused version and the other is the infused version.
For example, I can equip a Crystalline Band and Red Ring of Death. But I cannot equip two non-infused Crystalline Bands. Strangely enough, I can equip a non-infused Crystalline Band and an infused Crystalline Band. I think the latter is an anomaly and would probably expect that to be “fixed” at some point.
In regards to obtaining Pristine Fractal Relics, you can get those in the daily chest after level 10.
Well that is somewhat distressing, hopefully that will be changed. If not I wee there are still some rings that would still be good for me, just not optimal.
Looking at the Mystic Forge infusions has led me to yet another question. I see there is a recipe for a defensive and offensive infusion slot on one ring. Does this mean I can put an inherent +5 Agony Resistance on the ring then add the defensive and offensive infusion slot for another +10 AR, giving the item a total of +15 AR?
Oh man, guess I need to pay more attention to this stuff. I already have one infused ring for +10 total agony resistance with the infusion slot. Then six or so non-infused, I didn’t realize I could add inherent infusions to be able to get +10 on those too.
Well this is good news indeed. So now I can buy the perfect rings for myself, infuse it in the MF, then add an infusion upgrade. So I’ll no longer have to carry my Fractal rings and ‘everything else rings’. Thanks again!
One more question. What tier fractals can Pristine Fractal Relics be obtained? It’d be nice if I got them when I’m helping guildies with low level fractals as well.
New adds spawn at 50% on the door freezing version? I’ve only had that version once getting to level 21 and doing numerous tier 20 dailies. I’d like to better understand what you’re saying as to deal with that one when it comes up.
As for bomb/door. I find it best to have 1 or 2 dedicated bomb runners. The rest fight and take all the aggro. When you run out of bombs, everyone run to the bottom until more bombs respawn. I find this approach works well and I rarely have issues as long as people stick to the plan.
For the Ice Elemental, I prefer stay together and mostly ignore mobs. Staying together we only need to worry about 1 fire and the Vets AOE’s are easy to dodge. Plus if you stay together, you can quick res a downed man. Last thing you want is a dead man.
As for the bomb part, do a couple of the “non-runners” head up to the door to take aggro and bring those mobs back down the stairs, so that the 1-2 bomb runners don’t have to deal with aggro while by the door?