61 replies to this topic

[Xodiak]

The Jellyfish boss takes WAAAAAAAY too long to kill, it's not hard at all, you can sleepwalk through it, no challenge, but the boss has WAY too many HP's. Seriously, is there something we are missing? Such a stupid fight.

[Xodiak]

Deyadissa, on 17 November 2012 - 04:09 AM, said:

Yea, they need to fix that then.

If they make levels lock out, its going to quickly become impossible to any newer players that happen to join the game, since no one will want to do level 1. (Similiar to Hall of Heroes, you had to have rank to get rank...)

I don't see a reason to lock out groups like that.

No problem, as long as the person who isn't of the actual right Fractal level can only get rewards based on their actual level. Also, they'd still need to complete a level 1 to get to level 2 rewards still.. and so on.You don't get to skip lower tiers.

It's not like it's hard to get 4 other guildies to run this new place.anyhow

[Murderer]

My main problem is this will be hard to find a group in a week or so, I already see ppl saying must be at lvl 5 or whatever to run with group.

[Juanele]

Zhaitan, on 17 November 2012 - 03:35 AM, said:

Personally, I am very disappointed in the game's direction. I really hoped for an open world MMO where I will experience it based on dynamic events - good and bad - depending on the people's actions. I really did not hope it to be become a 5 ppl game so soon.

I have to agree here. The best part of the game is the open world part of it. I really detest the instances and it looks like this the direction that the game is going. *sigh*

[Lopez]

I think the fractals are amazing.

[vbleep]

I think some of the scenery is really well done but the actual gameplay, I'm  underwhelmed.  My first go at it was in a cave and the camera is so badly behaved in enclosed spaces, hard to target any attack that isnt auto locked, such as grenades. the camera just swings around so wildly and drives me crazy.  It didnt seem that different to the existing dungeons that I've done, i.e. red circles on the floor that take down half your health.  One player quit/disconnected, who knows.  Then we got back in and in this one we had to climb up up up on thin boards and keep getting knocked down.  You can't even see what took you down to your death. Then a player tells me its some heads on the wall that blow you off. Well might have been helpful if he'd told methat in the first place. So i'm laying there dead and no one can get to me so we got thrown out or somebody took us out, i don't know.  Then someone quit.  
I'm not in a guild.  I have my own guild and its just me.  I did that for the extra storage space. It seems this isn't the game for me if all I have to look forward to is dungeons and pug's that rage quit and yes, now its going to be that nobody wants you in the group if you're only level 1 difficulty. I would have liked a chance to get better armor; of course every player wants the best armor but if this is the only way to get it, I might be looking for some other way to spend my leisure time.

[Murderer]

vbleep, on 17 November 2012 - 05:34 AM, said:

I have my own guild and its just me.  I did that for the extra storage space. It seems this isn't the game for me if all I have to look forward to is dungeons and pug's that rage quit and yes, now its going to be that nobody wants you in the group if you're only level 1 difficulty. I would have liked a chance to get better armor; of course every player wants the best armor but if this is the only way to get it, I might be looking for some other way to spend my leisure time.

I am in a guild but I got on late and did not get into the groups who formed for it, now I cant even find a pug. People will shout "LFM FotM" I join and they ask "what dungeon lvl are you" and then I get kicked for being lvl 1. The community is already lacking compared to most MMOs I have played, this will make it worse.

[vbleep]

Murderer, on 17 November 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

I am in a guild but I got on late and did not get into the groups who formed for it, now I cant even find a pug. People will shout "LFM FotM" I join and they ask "what dungeon lvl are you" and then I get kicked for being lvl 1. The community is already lacking compared to most MMOs I have played, this will make it worse.

I agree.

[Arewn]

Could see it getting annoying have to go through previously completed difficulties every time you bring in someone new (though trolling through it could be fun regardless with friends). Mind you the major motive behind Fractals was to give groups an end game progressive goal.

[matsif]

I generally like the idea, and will go into more detail of the ones I've done so far below.  This holds a lot of promise imo and it can get better assuming they add the right things.  anyways, on to specific fractals:

-svanir winter:  generally not that bad, and enjoyable.  I really liked this one, probably my favorite of the ones I've done so far.

-dredge cave:  not bad, but annoying if you have someone DC and can only have 4 people to get into the room with the control panel.  also, noobs need to stop aggroing the mining suit out of the lava buckets...takes forever if you keep doing it that way.

-giant guy in mountain: not bad, not terrible.  having to change who held the hammer every couple minutes was more of an annoyance than anything.

-ascalon: dear god, I rage quit at this one.  between the lag from the 9000 barrages and firestorms and WvW mechanics at the gate (which I never got past), I couldn't take it any more.  had to go switch it up and get out of the dungeon after this one.

haven't done the swamp yet but I'm hearing bad things about it.

[Lucas Ashrock]

The content is fun, every fractal i saw till now (4/7) is fun , expecially if not with a group of idiots who don't listen/ don't do nothing falling like a DE zerg, no teamwork
On side note, like OP said, racism is growing. I saw just today LFM fractalfarm lv6 /more no noobs
Pathetic.

Edited by Lucas Ashrock, 17 November 2012 - 06:03 AM.

[syndreamer]

This event will bring out the elitist personality out even more than what has happened already with current dungeons. Best way to avoid that is get into a guild that's welcoming and doesn't mind taking a step back to help out a fellow mate. Seems like everyone is in a race to get to the top of the pack..

[Lucas Ashrock]

syndreamer, on 17 November 2012 - 06:10 AM, said:

This event will bring out the elitist personality out even more than what has happened already with current dungeons. Best way to avoid that is get into a guild that's welcoming and doesn't mind taking a step back to help out a fellow mate. Seems like everyone is in a race to get to the top of the pack..

Not even knowning what the heck they're gonna do with mats/ weapons they drops, lol. Maybe he get a an important weapon used to craft  a future ascended alternative weapon (like some exotic weapons needing a base weapon, ther are some, not a legendary, but an ubercool weapon, exotic, alternative) and destroy it for an ecto lol

Edited by Lucas Ashrock, 17 November 2012 - 06:15 AM.

[pswendel]

vbleep, on 17 November 2012 - 05:34 AM, said:

I think some of the scenery is really well done but the actual gameplay, I'm  underwhelmed.  My first go at it was in a cave and the camera is so badly behaved in enclosed spaces, hard to target any attack that isnt auto locked, such as grenades. the camera just swings around so wildly and drives me crazy.  It didnt seem that different to the existing dungeons that I've done, i.e. red circles on the floor that take down half your health.  One player quit/disconnected, who knows.  Then we got back in and in this one we had to climb up up up on thin boards and keep getting knocked down.  You can't even see what took you down to your death. Then a player tells me its some heads on the wall that blow you off. Well might have been helpful if he'd told methat in the first place. So i'm laying there dead and no one can get to me so we got thrown out or somebody took us out, i don't know.  Then someone quit.  
I'm not in a guild.  I have my own guild and its just me.  I did that for the extra storage space. It seems this isn't the game for me if all I have to look forward to is dungeons and pug's that rage quit and yes, now its going to be that nobody wants you in the group if you're only level 1 difficulty. I would have liked a chance to get better armor; of course every player wants the best armor but if this is the only way to get it, I might be looking for some other way to spend my leisure time.

That was the first one I had. It was easy. I used my eyes and previous gaming experience to discern the proper way to complete it.

Have you played the other dungeons before jumping into this one?

Also, you are playing a massively multiplayer game but you remain alone (for storage space). Meet some friends.

Edited by pswendel, 17 November 2012 - 06:22 AM.

[Valkaire]

Fractal progression is character bound btw, so I don't see groups for low fractal levels being too hard to come by =]

[Eon Lilu]

Valkaire, on 17 November 2012 - 03:33 AM, said:

You go back to the hub after every third fractal (4th if you get a special/random boss encounter). If your party wipes, you get sent back to lions arch.

This is not the issue, it is not saving the fact we have done it 3 times...

We wasted 3 hours on this and it refuses to accept we have completed lvl 1....must be bugged.

Its not worth doing this dungeon, waste of time and way too much time needed to complete for little reward.

[Wensbane]

It's not for everyone, that's for sure, but I had fun.

Haven't even made it to level 2 yet, since my group disbanded after some DCs -- they need to fix that asap --  but the dungeons seemed challenging enough.
Some of the fractals reminded me of the LotRO dungeons, from the Moria expansion. Only better.

That said, I can also see this being a real breeding ground for elitists. Hope I'm wrong though.

[Darkobra]

This is exactly what was missing from previous dungeons. Everything before was dodge the red circles and mash your skills. This one has a lot more variety and tactics. I was in a damn good pug where we all worked together and communicated. But I'm dreading the day I'm stuck in a bad one in the Fractals.

I won't say the ones I was in because I don't want to spoil it but loremasters and GW1 fans? You're in for a treat too!

[geala]

Zhaitan, on 17 November 2012 - 03:35 AM, said:

...

Personally, I am very disappointed in the game's direction. I really hoped for an open world MMO where I will experience it based on dynamic events - good and bad - depending on the people's actions. I really did not hope it to be become a 5 ppl game so soon.

However, I am sure many people are ecstatic about it.

So true. I had hoped for an open world at least at par with dungeons.

We played it yesterday to Lvl 2, the robot in the cave with the four big melted metal bottles. Nice in a certain way. Ascalon was easy after  avoiding the oil. But I didn't buy the game to play as a Charr.

To repair items you can take the repair canisters with you.

I think a lot of people will like the Fractals. To me it showed again in nuce why I hate dungeons (find a certain tactic, then repeat, repeat, repeat...). For me an ideal combination of stress and boredom, I will never join it again.

[ToySoldier]

Zhaitan, on 17 November 2012 - 03:35 AM, said:

I think ANET just decided to murder its own game by moving the population from already empty zones to a dungeon. Why would you design a game based on open world with dynamic events only to shift it into a dungeon crawler in 3 months? I won't even bother pondering on the increased stats/gear grind etc.

Thanks for putting this into words. It was only on the fringe of my mind, but you said it.

Quote

Personally, I am very disappointed in the game's direction. I really hoped for an open world MMO where I will experience it based on dynamic events - good and bad - depending on the people's actions. I really did not hope it to be become a 5 ppl game so soon.

I loved the game back when we fought off the champion troll in Queensdale.  People were showing bravery everywhere helping each other in that fight.  I had looked forward to that in the whole game.  Harathi Hinderlands DEs were great fun.  Back then people did not kick others for their level, gear, or guild affiliation.  Gee I'm already talking nostalgia.    The other day I ran back to Queensdale and in my imagination saw phantoms of the players who bravely fought together in yonder days.  Will those days ever come back?  I wondered. That was got me so excited during beta.  Now it's gone.

[rick1027]

Zhaitan, on 17 November 2012 - 03:35 AM, said:

I have PuG'd this to difficulty 3 tonight. We had to reset dungeon several times because team members ended up in different version of the instance till we found everyone in the same overflow. Had to reform the team twice as people simply would not like to stick around while we were dealing w/ overflow mess. At Level 3, we had to disband as no one was there to join as we needed 2 more to continue. We did Lvl 1 and 2 w/ 4 people as our Ele DC'd and could not get back.




I think ANET just decided to murder its own game by moving the population from already empty zones to a dungeon. Why would you design a game based on open world with dynamic events only to shift it into a dungeon crawler in 3 months? I won't even bother pondering on the increased stats/gear grind etc.




Sub-80 is pretty much not doable post lvl 1. I found the environment to be great as usual. The whole setup did not look like something ANET designed in last 2 months based on user response but, it was designed even before the game was launched to deal with content gluttony of a portion of the playerbase. I found the boss fights to be anti-climactic whereas the path leading to the bosses turned out to be somewhat daunting and challenging.



Yes, it will be farmed that way. The way this dungeon is set up, it will not be too pug friendly. Best way to do it is just to zone in, check the map, get out if you don't like, try again, rinse and repeat. Maybe the way to counter that should be to reward team with 5,10,15 tokens after each mini-map. I do not see how a team can do 2 or more difficulties in one setting. PUGs will be even harder to manage.

Personally, I am very disappointed in the game's direction. I really hoped for an open world MMO where I will experience it based on dynamic events - good and bad - depending on the people's actions. I really did not hope it to be become a 5 ppl game so soon.

However, I am sure many people are ecstatic about it.

i dont know if i totally agree with you but your input is well thought out and gave me things to think about.

[Ritualist]

Off:

ToySoldier, on 17 November 2012 - 07:12 AM, said:

I loved the game back when we fought off the champion troll in Queensdale. ...

Interestingly enough, it was this exact fight during the first BWE that made me realize that GW2 might not be as bad as I thought it was. Sadly, this was probably also the most fun fight I had and I haven't managed to find its like since.

[Doki20]

My first impression is that i simply love it. Done 6 different fractals + 1 bonus, and I like their design. One of my guild mate even said that they feel like as an adventure. Finally no trash mobs with millions of hp which you need to kill for 10 minutes, and good mechanics. If half the dungeons would have fun and interesting mechanics like this has, then people would have no problem with end-game.

[Dusty Friday]

The new dungeon rocks!!! I have to admit - I love it. Reached difficulty level 5 with my guildmates (3-5 were done with a pug, so I wouldn't say pugging will be hard. Playing with very dumb players is always going to make things worse, no matter what dungeon).

The challenges are very fun, at least initially. Having TS /teamspeak/ or a mean of vocal communication really brings up the game and it was about time they added a dungeon that actually promotes this. This kind of dungeon design is a step forward for the game and I really wish they don't stop and bring in a lot more of these areas.

[vbleep]

pswendel, on 17 November 2012 - 06:21 AM, said:

That was the first one I had. It was easy. I used my eyes and previous gaming experience to discern the proper way to complete it.

Have you played the other dungeons before jumping into this one?

Also, you are playing a massively multiplayer game but you remain alone (for storage space). Meet some friends.

I would love to be in a good guild.  I was in a guild before.  As a female player in a guild with mostly guys, it wasn't easy to be taken seriously.  In a party one night, with no provocation on my part, the 2nd in command of the guild asks me was I DTF (sexual; use your imagination).  I left.  As for the other dungeons, every experience I've had with them has been awful and not able to complete because of people quitting or the dungeon being bugged.  That just happened to me again tonight in AC.  People tend to not understand that enemies need to be tackled as a group.  Rather, they just wp back and return to fight with half the team being dead and in the process of traveling back from a wp.  Not organized.  So no, I haven't done a lot of dungeons.

[Encre]

I am in a one man guild, and i already know i'll have troubles tackling this with Pug's as i did yesterday.
Had to leave my old guild for some reasons, and started one so i can get some bonuses and not rely on anyone for that.

Hopefully i'll manage to do some, and if a lot of us are in real trouble i do hope the guru community will form pugs so we can do this together like it was done for CoE.

I liked the dungeon so far, i only finished the asura, and the kitten bots were just hilarious, i had a blast.
The swamp killed my pug though

Edited by Encre, 17 November 2012 - 08:49 AM.

[Immortal141]

So far I really like the fractals.  My favorite one has to be the dredge one where you fight the dredge power suit at the end (takes a lot of coordination.)  However, I am worried that by the end of the week no one will be doing anything lower than scale 5 and this will leave a lot of people behind.  Hopefully this will not be the case.

[syndreamer]

Just pugged lvl 1 of Fractals, this time around we cleared the Raving Asuran, Charr vs Ascalon, and Dredge. Guardians are going to be a heavily favored class for this dungeon because of all the ranged attackers and the amount of shields we gotta throw up. Pugged with 2 other guardians including myself, an elementalist, and a thief. One good thing so far is we got 2 exotics to drop from bosses. Chest loot so far is 1 charged lodestone, bunch of greens and blues, and a vial of ascended essence (?) Gonna try lvl 2 now after the update.

[Real]

Critique-- Really need to allow us to respawn individually, specially if someone leaps to an impassable area and they can't join back.
Also too much twitch. I have no problem with it but A LOT of players just aren't up to par when it comes to jumping puzzles/avoidance/etc.
Finally, allow DC'd people to get back in.

Three of these were done in fractal level 1, four on level 2. All three-manned.

Colossus: Favorite by far. Should make it clearer you need to kill a mob to activate the 4 ability on the hammer though.

Underwater: Meh. Dolphin distract doesn't seem to work. At least it went quickly.

Ascalon: Fun and quick-paced action. Enjoyed it.

Swamp: Utter ass. Get a guardian or mesmer or bust. The need for condition removal, stability, and swiftness through utilities is far too paramount for the beginning portion and the constant path blocking doesn't help. We just started over to get a different one.

Asura: Ok. Probably the most straight-forward one of all.

Snow: Loved the ominous atmosphere. I think that's something ANet really succeeded with these dungeons: the environment and general feel.

Dredge: Ok-ish. Dredge boss annoying as hell (a drudge, if you will). Final boss was fun.

Ocean: Again, amazing atmosphere. Boss fight really fun too (specially the end!)

Haven't done volcanic yet.

[ashleigh mcmahon]

Zhaitan, on 17 November 2012 - 03:35 AM, said:

I think ANET just decided to murder its own game by moving the population from already empty zones to a dungeon. Why would you design a game based on open world with dynamic events only to shift it into a dungeon crawler in 3 months? I won't even bother pondering on the increased stats/gear grind etc.

I agree with this - we do need more rewarding/challenging DE's outside of orr. But I believe having content like this is a good start.

Also I was pleased to see the lost shores event chain out to several different areas (caledon forest, kessex hills I played) - it was again refreshing to see these recently ghost areas have life in them again.

For me personally, i have yet to enjoy any huge DE's. I've experienced all the dragons and orr at it's peak population. The poor optimisation for FPS (even though my system is above average) has left me wary about any future big scales DE's. Suprisingly in the recent Lost shores LA event my fps was performing well for the number of things going on - but if the fps doesn't give up, the latency sure does!

I much prefer to see heavy populated areas spread out doing multiple DE's rather than a huge lag/fps inducing zerg hitting on one boss.

Also so far I have seen no risen in the fractal dungeon! Thank god.

Edited by ashleigh mcmahon, 17 November 2012 - 01:59 PM.