58 replies to this topic

[powercozmic]

For some reason everytime I open this forums, there's about 90% whine and moan and doom threads. I'm gonna be the ugly ducking here.

Don't care what enyone else things. Fractals is imo the best dungeon experience I've had ever - also one of my best gaming experiences. Maybe I'm just not into the loot or something, the dungeon design and the mood it created was awesome!

This is just an appreciation thread. Feel free to post what you feel about the fractals dungeons.

Thanks Anet. Take my money!

[bittersweeteros]

I love them too

[sploosh]

It's amazing.

Edited by sploosh, 17 November 2012 - 10:02 AM.

[Waage83]

I organised a event for the attack on Lions Arch for my guild.

The LAG was a bit much and the BUG's kind of killed some of the momentum and i hope they will make things better with the next part of the event.

Now the Fractal dungeon is great IT is a bit buggy, but we manged to get through it and it was a blast with my guild group and something i want to do again. I hope they add more fractals to this dungeon because the concept is stellar.

Now the whole bind on acquire loot is kind of stupid and should be more token based.

Edited by Waage83, 17 November 2012 - 10:04 AM.

[Lokist]

The first event was spoiled by huge lag, the quests in various areas were bugged. But the dungeon is amazing. When you walk through an empty room where nothing happens and you stop to admire the view, you know that AN is putting effort into this content, and it pays.

[Gilles VI]

I love the dungeon.

But 1 thing, in the middle of second fractal a party member dc'ed, and there was no way he could reconnect, so we needed to go on with 4.
That's all they need to fix.

At lvl1 it's fairly easy, see above we completed most of a run with 4.
But at lvl4 it starts getting a bit harder when you don't pay attention, like the ascalonian fractal, if you don't pay attention to the ballistas/oil/arrow carts you're gonna die very quickly..

Edited by Gilles VI, 17 November 2012 - 11:10 AM.

[Paajanen]

Fractal of the Mists dungeon was my best MMO gaming experience ever. I loved really the epic design and very different styles used in different sections of the dungeon. Loved also the fact that the difficulty was not (for our guild group) in the mobs etc. it was in figuring out the way how to get the job done.
*SPOILER ALERT*
- Like in the poison boss room we wiped (1h Poison) once and then explored the room and found a window that we opened which cleared the poison out of the air.

[Gli]

I liked everything so far except for the underwater part.

Three minor fights so easy I could solo them, followed by a dolphin swimming challenge that takes far too long and has no pay-off other than armor breakage, followed by a jellyfish boss combat that I didn't even need to move around for more than once per minute. Mind, I still needed to move around a LOT, because it lasted many minutes because of its humongous health pool.

Boring step after boring step after boring step. Terrible, and definitely not something I ever want to play again.

[Spooch]

Gilles VI, on 17 November 2012 - 11:08 AM, said:

I love the dungeon.

But 1 thing, in the middle of second fractal a party member dc'ed, and there was no way he could reconnect, so we needed to go on with 4.
That's all they need to fix.

that problem happens in all instanced dungeons from time to time since day one

[Gli]

Spooch, on 17 November 2012 - 11:49 AM, said:

that problem happens in all instanced dungeons from time to time since day one

Every dungeon party I've been in for the last month or 2 has been able to get back together after crashes or disconnects, except when the player the dungeon 'belongs' to goes missing.

Fractals? There's no getting back together at all.

Edited by Gli, 17 November 2012 - 11:52 AM.

[chullster]

Have to disagree, the most PuG unfriendly experience ever. Been in several different ones, not completed any, on level 1 difficulty. I assume I must suck hard as I'm the only constant.

No point going in unless with friends with voice comms, typing instructions is a waste of time due people not speaking each others language (due to overflows etc)

Puts you off trying again when you've damaged your armour several times, had to read rage induced party chat, got 1 or 2 junk drops and a feeling of frustration.

[Psydrome]

I love the new boss mechanics, but the only thing that I don't like about the dungeon is that they placed the entrance in LA... More oveflow

[Featherman]

Fractals is a terrible experience if you go with PUGs. I had to wait a full hour for my party to reach the top of the collosus map cause they were all apparently using touchpads or something. Otherwise it's a pretty amazing dungeon.

[Gilles VI]

Spooch, on 17 November 2012 - 11:49 AM, said:

that problem happens in all instanced dungeons from time to time since day one

Euhm it's first time it happened to me.

Featherman, on 17 November 2012 - 12:11 PM, said:

Fractals is a terrible experience if you go with PUGs. I had to wait a full hour for my party to reach the top of the collosus map cause they were all apparently using touchpads or something. Otherwise it's a pretty amazing dungeon.

Just did level2-3-4 with pugs in a row, don't generalise.

[Ritualist]

I am sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of me not doing this piece of shit ever again.

Edited by Protoss, 17 November 2012 - 02:36 PM.

[Jan Breydel]

I can't decide which is more astonishing, the exceptional diversity in landscapes and area effects or the exceptional diversity in boss mechanics and fights.

Though I have to agree that voice chat is to be advised very much. Figuring out how bosses are to be killed usually doesn't take that very long, but it does require some organisation.

[Baktwerel]

We did a few fractals with guildies and we found them awesome fun! You could never know what would be next and many of them required a lot of thinking and teamwork. The most fun one (thus far, we haven't seen all yet) was the Volcanic Grawl one. When we saw the grawl pushing the humans into the lava, one of my guildies said "S**t got real.". A little after when we saw the flaming-rolling boulders on the Indiana Jones-esque tunnel and we realised that we have to go through there, I countered with "S**t JUST got real!". It was awesome, I have never had this much fun in a dungeon before, in any game And then we didn't even talk about the awesome weapons that we can get...

[Requiamer]

I support this post

[SlappedYak]

Seriously awesome :DD but bloody hard even on difficulty one...superheating that rampaging ice elemental is just...impossiible cos it keeps stopping urgh...anyone got some hints?

[blindude]

well im with a low level friend that uses the trial keys..so can he join at level 10 considering that the dungen upsacles you and still complete difficulty 1.I assume yes since you ve done it with a 4 man party but would it be fun for him?I dont want him run away from fear

[Azure Skye]

I felt this dungeon designed very well and the playstyle is based on how team work to make it work. I'm at level 4 and i cant seem to get a PuG group for that level at the moment. Lol

Edited by Azure Skye, 17 November 2012 - 12:47 PM.

[Aetou]

My only issue with it is that PUGing it is a nightmare.  Not because of the content itself, just because everyone seems to be trying it and I swear half the people I seem to get must have never cleared anything harder than Ghosteater.  I've had 5 different groups suffer a DC during the second fractal requiring a replacement and restart.  I've had people with a complete inability to dodge anything.  I've... had extremely elevated blood pressure.  L1 should be easily puggable (i.e., not need voice) but at least two of them seem to really require it or for everyone to just be very competent and able to not screw up at all.

Guess I'll just need to either wait for more people to learn the fights or just wait for decent guild groups to be available (unfortunately, by now all the good people seem to be running higher levels which means people who couldn't play last night are stuck with the dross.)

[Azure Skye]

Aetou, on 17 November 2012 - 12:46 PM, said:

My only issue with it is that PUGing it is a nightmare.  Not because of the content itself, just because everyone seems to be trying it and I swear half the people I seem to get must have never cleared anything harder than Ghosteater.  I've had 5 different groups suffer a DC during the second fractal requiring a replacement and restart.  I've had people with a complete inability to dodge anything.  I've... had extremely elevated blood pressure.  L1 should be easily puggable (i.e., not need voice) but at least two of them seem to really require it or for everyone to just be very competent and able to not screw up at all.

Guess I'll just need to either wait for more people to learn the fights or just wait for decent guild groups to be available (unfortunately, by now all the good people seem to be running higher levels which means people who couldn't play last night are stuck with the dross.)

It seem that most people can't pass level 1 or 2 and i did up to level 4 without Voip at all.

[Rekkwum]

blindude, on 17 November 2012 - 12:40 PM, said:

well im with a low level friend that uses the trial keys..so can he join at level 10 considering that the dungen upsacles you and still complete difficulty 1.I assume yes since you ve done it with a 4 man party but would it be fun for him?I dont want him run away from fear

I wouldn't recommend it.
Upscaling won't give him the extra utility slot or an elite, and the difficulty is pretty unforgiving. Not recommended for anyone new to the game.

[My Sweet Lily]

I love the Fractals! The hardest has been the Searing one, then the Jade Sea and third hardest the lava grawl one. Others have been more easier, but all of them are so FUN.

[Aetou]

Azure Skye, on 17 November 2012 - 12:49 PM, said:

It seem that most people can't pass level 1 or 2 and i did up to level 4 without Voip at all.

Well, depending on what fractals you get given it's certainly possible to get up to level 4 without even facing the two that benefit heavily from voice (Swamp & Dredge.)  Anything that requires precise coordination is always hard on pugs but, like I said, I keep having to basically 3 man fractals - I'm sure if I got 4 other good players they'd be doable.

[Eon Lilu]

chullster, on 17 November 2012 - 11:52 AM, said:

Have to disagree, the most PuG unfriendly experience ever. Been in several different ones, not completed any, on level 1 difficulty. I assume I must suck hard as I'm the only constant.

No point going in unless with friends with voice comms, typing instructions is a waste of time due people not speaking each others language (due to overflows etc)

Puts you off trying again when you've damaged your armour several times, had to read rage induced party chat, got 1 or 2 junk drops and a feeling of frustration.

This is the biggest issue tbh, it means that pugs have little chance of getting the ascended gear, its possible with pugs, its just slow, very annoying, if you get just one idiot, or one person leaves or you just can't get the group to understand how it works, it can waste hours of gameplay and tbh its just too painfull trying to pug this dungeon.

Also going in as lower level with lower armors and stats ( not being elitist here ) really does make a difference and slows the whole group down. It sucks but thats the way it is.

They made this dungeon for organised guilds really who love hardcore dungeon running. Not for pugs.

For the time effort and frustration it causes it doesn't seem worth it.

Edited by Eon Lilu, 17 November 2012 - 02:00 PM.

[kalendraf]

Tried it with a decent PUG team, but our first fractal was the underwater one.  We did fine until we got to the darkened deep water area, and at that point it we just started dying instantly.  Apparently, you need to stay need glowing plants, but even when we tried this, the snaring/pulling vet krait mobs were still too much to handle.  I went from a fully repaired set of armor to completely ruined.  I'm not sure how this supposed to be enjoyable

Underwater + Unable to see + snaring vet mobs + Near Instant death + Armor breakage = No fun / No thanks.

[Eon Lilu]

SlappedYak, on 17 November 2012 - 12:36 PM, said:

Seriously awesome :DD but bloody hard even on difficulty one...superheating that rampaging ice elemental is just...impossiible cos it keeps stopping urgh...anyone got some hints?

Yes its easy once you get a good group who knows what to do, 1 person on the switches on the lava buckets running between all 4, this person needs perfect timing.

Other 4 team members all go ranged, ignore the adds there pointless just kite them, 4 members pull the boss while doing full damage on him always staying infront of him at long range pulling him from lava bucket to lava bucket.

You have to keep him flamed 24/7 so he can't heal and just keep pulling him in a large circle between buckets, focus damage and if everyone does it correctly in about 10 minutes or more he should be dead.

----

They need to add waypoints, add repair stations in between each mini dungeon, give more break options in between each mini dungeon and fix the dis connects issues for players to get back into the group.

They also need to add the ability for someone to leave and someone else to take that persons place on the team. Incase you lose someone.

If they put all that into it would make the dungeon alot more enjoyable.

Edited by Eon Lilu, 17 November 2012 - 02:06 PM.

[Rain King]

Best dungeon ever.