My honest feelings about map mob difficulty in PoF

[Pockethole.5031]

Edit: I know how to cc, how to dodge, how to cleanse conditions, which gear/build is suitable for open world yes I know it, I know how my class works, I know how to deal damage, and despite all this in my opinion (which you don't have to care about)

mobs in PoF maps

-Respawn too quickly

-Are generally harder than is necessary for open world (now look at my top edit again, it begins like this: I know how to cc...)

-Have too large aggro range

-Gang up on you, wherever you are in the map, they will always swarm on you. Even if you just want to mine/herb/log in peace. Or want to sightsee.

-There is not always space to fight the mob (spellbreaker harpies. Where do I dodge if I'm atop a tiny platform? )

Also spellbreaker harpies are very annoying. I wish they would be less annoying.

**-The amount of time you waste on PoF mobs in comparison to HoT or core Tyria is way more.** Take notes next time you go around PoF and leave your griffon, skyscale and beetle home. You gotta understand my perspective here. HoT has been designed in such way that you can most of the time glide away from the threat. But in PoF you run slowly, and then you die, if you cannot be assed to kill your enemies. Therefore you always have to kill enemies for 3 minutes straight so you can mount up and pray you will be fine or kill enemies for 3 minutes straight and die anyway. If you have ascended gear, good for you. I'm sure it makes a little difference. Well I don't. I have exotics. Fuck me, right?

-**I would like to enjoy the scenery more than wasting time whacking mobs.**

-Yeah, I still want that -5% hp reduction for mobs. They have hard enough mechanics for it.

-**People who want hardcore open world experience can always wear blue grade gear.**

 

Thank you people for pointing these out. I'm not good at explaining and my peanut brain only comprehends "this is so difficult it shouldn't be" and that doesn't really clarify why.

 

 

 

 

Original post:

I hope there won't be as many stupid mobs in EoD. It's somewhat discouraging to fight mobs and when you might be done with them they just respawn and you gotta kill them and hope you catch a window to mount up and fuck off. I love easy modes, but if the whole map is a minefield... I don't want to do that map again. I thought they are meant to be replayed later again. HoT had some annoying monsteries but for some reason PoF are worse. There doesn't seem to be your generic weak meatball mob that you can kick out of your way, no. Everything is out there to get you. Fucking everything and it's so strong. And numerous. If they weren't as numerous it wouldn't feel so horrible.

**I am bullied by pre-programmed game monsters.** It needs to be a little easier, **this isn't the right difficulty**. And what about those Joko minions? They gonna slap all the conditions on you, even if you roll out of their red circles. Did you just cleanse a condition? Why here, have another one. So you were smart enough to bring another condi cleanse? Yup, here you go. You're welcome. There are places in PoF like the Dwarf Dungeon Rune bitch thing? I could have never had the nerve to do it alone within a day. And even if I had a partner, we still died and downed a lot. I had majority of trailblazer stuff, and still got kicked in the ass. Like holy shit. Normally I like to do this alone. But what the actual kitterino. It's too much. Maybe I got another break time coming.

 

I am terribly sorry, but I just feel that dear Anet devs need to at least take a glance at this. I already regret that I developed care and love for this game by now. And a few monthly investments... But it's worth trying at least.

**TL:DR; Please, make EoD map mobs easier than in PoF. And not as numerous. Thank you.**

[AliamRationem.5172]

PoF mob density is no worse than HoT. However, the aggro range on many PoF/LS4 mobs is far longer. The overall effect is that moving around without being harassed by every mob within a square mile of your position is significantly more difficult in these later maps. Personally, I can't stand it. I find it really irritating and wish they'd reduce the aggro range to the way it was in HoT.

[Sobx.1758]

Who are you quoting here?

 

Also please don't make it easier, if someone wants to keep snoozing in core maps, then they're free to snooze in core maps. Thanks.

[Sobx.1758]

> @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> PoF mob density is no worse than HoT. However, the aggro range on many PoF/LS4 mobs is far longer. The overall effect is that moving around without being harassed by every mob within a square mile of your position is significantly more difficult in these later maps. Personally, I can't stand it. I find it really irritating and wish they'd reduce the aggro range to the way it was in HoT.

 

I don't mind (or, more specifically: I don't care). But... we literally have mounts with long range dodges, or capable of skipping *anything* with flight... Now also with stealth. How is this a game breaking problem for anyone at this point?

[Friday.7864]

Well, in all honesty, it's not that bad once you get acquainted with your class, the maps and mobs.

The only thing that really matters is that you kill stuff before it kills you (do a berserker build and learn when to move/dodge). Upgraded mounts also help tremendously with moving around in those maps.

I just hope the new expansion mobs don't have any irritating mechanics... Can't stand those invulnerable griffons flying around me or stunlocks - turns fun into frustration.

[SinisterSlay.6973]

It is somewhat annoying that all basic enemies feel like veterans.

It does keep me out of the maps when I am playing casually.

I don't hate it though when I actually am playing there. If I am looking for a fight, I go find a hydra. If I am looking to sight see, I'll hang out in core maps where I can nearly 1hk everything.

[AliamRationem.5172]

> @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > @"AliamRationem.5172" said:

> > PoF mob density is no worse than HoT. However, the aggro range on many PoF/LS4 mobs is far longer. The overall effect is that moving around without being harassed by every mob within a square mile of your position is significantly more difficult in these later maps. Personally, I can't stand it. I find it really irritating and wish they'd reduce the aggro range to the way it was in HoT.

>

> I don't mind (or, more specifically: I don't care). But... we literally have mounts with long range dodges, or capable of skipping *anything* with flight... Now also with stealth. How is this a game breaking problem for anyone at this point?

 

When I dismount to harvest a node or loot a cache, I don't mind having to killing an enemy or two now and then. That's mostly how it felt throughout HoT (although LS3 has some enemies that border on annoying - I'm looking at you, White Mantle!). Specifically, what I find annoying about PoF/LS4 aggro range is that when I intentionally dismount, I'm frequently forced to clear a large number of enemies in a wide area in order to get out of combat and re-mount. This is rarely an issue in HoT. There's a clear difference and I find it annoying, whether mounts have made navigating open world more enjoyable (they certainly have!) or not. Makes sense, right?

[Pockethole.5031]

> @"Sobx.1758" said:

> Who are you quoting here?

 

Myself from reddit.

 

> @"Sobx.1758" said:

> core maps

 

What if I want to do the expansion content but at lower difficulty? Oh I guess I have to quit the game now for wanting to play it differently?

How exactly is your answer a solution to my problem? If I want to feel like a god I open Control and one-shot everything.

Why is it criminal, wrong for wanting the game to be just a millimeter, a smidge, a tiny bit, a single pixel easier? And not taking pleasure for being ganged on by mobs to death? I'm not a masochist. Difficulty is fine, but I am stating it is a bit too much.

Actually? Don't answer. It's clear our opinions are too different for there to be any kind of discussion. I've said what I've had to say. You've said what you've had to say. Good bye.

 

[radda.8920]

I totally want the opposite.

Pof was way too simple as an extension, it was really made for casuals. And unlike HOT, it never asked to think about your build and try to improve your skill.

I don't want to spam 1 and falling asleep on my keyboard like the last maps they added in game.

 

**So please, arena, make EoD mobs much more complicated . And more numerous. Thank you.**

 

 

[Mizuira.8245]

For easy to travel and casual playing we have all the core maps. Let some people to have others experiences on the game. HoT got nerfed pretty fast because players were not ready. PoF is a joke, the hardest part of the expansion is to be able to ride your mount with mobs around. Failing events is not even possible...

 

Some advices : your eyes must be open when playing the game. And there are many skills, not just "1".

 

 

 

 

[Veprovina.4876]

After playing LS3 that i bought *after* Path of Fire i can safely say they dialed the mobs down significanlty in PoF compared to what was there before.

Plus... The mobs are like so because if they had shorter aggro ranges, Mounts would be borderline broken. You have to fight some now and then.

 

> @"Pockethole.5031" said:

> > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > Who are you quoting here?

>

> Myself from reddit.

>

> > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > core maps

>

> What if I want to do the expansion content but at lower difficulty? Oh I guess I have to quit the game now for wanting to play it differently?

> How exactly is your answer a solution to my problem? If I want to feel like a god I open Control and one-shot everything.

> Why is it criminal, wrong for wanting the game to be just a millimeter, a smidge, a tiny bit, a single pixel easier? And not taking pleasure for being ganged on by mobs to death? I'm not a masochist. Difficulty is fine, but I am stating it is a bit too much.

> Actually? Don't answer. It's clear our opinions are too different for there to be any kind of discussion. I've said what I've had to say. You've said what you've had to say. Good bye.

>

 

Because you're not the only person playing those maps. If you one shot everything, then everyone has to one shot everything and not everyone wants that. Go to core maps and try to do some hearts to see what i mean and why that's bad.

 

Some people enjoy a challange, and those maps were designed for that.

The problem then stop being the maps and starts being your build.

You're full trailblazer's?

 

It's "fine" for open world, but that's a WvW stat combo reall.

Go full Viper's. You won't one shot the mobs, but you'll definitely see a difference in how annoying the mobs are.

[Sobx.1758]

> @"Pockethole.5031" said:

> > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > Who are you quoting here?

>

> Myself from reddit.

 

Ok, I just didn't understand the format, clear now.

Was it deleted for some reason? I was curious about the responses you've gotten there.

 

> > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > core maps

>

> What if I want to do the expansion content but at lower difficulty? Oh I guess I have to quit the game now for wanting to play it differently?

 

Then you can't, because it's not a single player storytelling game, it's an mmorpg. If you want to play through the content then you'll need to understand it, learn what you need to learn and play through it. Not that open world is really so oppressive that it somehow stops you from *doing the content* in general. Just get the semi-coherent build with correcti-ish stats on gear and you're fine.

 

> How exactly is your answer a solution to my problem? If I want to feel like a god I open Control and one-shot everything.

 

It's a "solution" for you *wanting to feel stronger than you are* without learning actual mechanics the game tries to teach you. If you learn them, you won't have much of a problem with expansion open world content. If you don't want to... core content is still there for you. Pulling down the general population of players to a pretty much tutorial-level difficulty in third expansions seems weird and undesirable to me.

 

> Why is it criminal, wrong for wanting the game to be just a millimeter, a smidge, a tiny bit, a single pixel easier? And not taking pleasure for being ganged on by mobs to death? I'm not a masochist. Difficulty is fine, but I am stating it is a bit too much.

 

Where did I say about it being criminal? No need to be melodramatic just because I disagree with you. Most of the problems in ow content are solved with simply understanding the game mechanics, that's all (you've even wrote it yourself: "**bullied by pre-programmed monsters**" -that's the point here, they are preprogrammed, they are predictable, learn what they do and act accordingly). And I'm not a masochist either.

[Pockethole.5031]

-L2P your build

I am playing. I dodge and use the arsenal I have. And I still feel they are unnecessarily hard.

-then you are lying

Just like the rest of other humans, when something hurts me, it's my fault for existing. You always want to blame the thing least important to you.

 

I didn't say I want to one-shot everything. Did you read what I wrote? I wrote like so: "wanting the game to be just a millimeter, a smidge, a tiny bit, a single pixel easier?"

For wishing a small quality of life change, I get judged as if I'm absolutely shit at this game. Then I have no Idea how I've completed every story chapter until LS4 (and to top it off, with varying classes/specs).

Basically everything is my fault. Ok. Let's go with that. No argument here.

[Cuks.8241]

It is only the aggro range in the open field. I'm ok that everyone inside an enemy fort wants to kill me and I like harder enemies but when I travel across land and all the fauna and half of the flora in sight wants to murder me it's a bit exaggerated.

[radda.8920]

> @"Pockethole.5031" said:

> -L2P your build

> I am playing. I dodge and use the arsenal I have. And I still feel they are unnecessarily hard.

> -then you are lying

> Just like the rest of other humans, when something hurts me, it's my fault for existing. You always want to blame the thing least important to you.

>

> I didn't say I want to one-shot everything. Did you read what I wrote? I wrote like so: "wanting the game to be just a millimeter, a smidge, a tiny bit, a single pixel easier?"

> For wishing a small quality of life change, I get judged as if I'm absolutely kitten at this game. Then I have no Idea how I've completed every story chapter until LS4 (and to top it off, with varying classes/specs).

> Basically everything is my fault. Ok. Let's go with that. No argument here.

 

no frankly, i don't understand how you can have difficulty in pof

it is almost impossible to fail metas because they are so simple, even the bounties, I hardly failed a single one

There is absolutely no form of challenge on pof, we are light years away from the level of HOT

 

I think you have to review your whole way of playing in question because if cantha is much simpler than pof, we will end up on a pokemon level child's play.

Sincerely if EoD is as easy as you ask, I see no point in buying it

[Smoosh.2718]

Difficulty should get harder in the later expansions. Why? If you played core > HoT > PoF you should know your classes, know what mobs do and know how to play pretty well to be able to fight tougher mobs later on in the game.

 

When you play a single player game (heck lets use Deus Ex Mankind Divided here) the game builds you up for that final fight. It introduces the mechanics through out the game, could you beat that boss with little effort / skill on the normal difficulty? Probably not, you build up that skill and know how throughout the game. If a game has a really easy final level, what was the point?

So, why should Gw2 try to get easier and easier as expansions come out? This is not how games work, the later the expansion the more experiences you should be when playing it. If you skipped story / parts of the game just to be there, that is your fault not the games.

 

 

TLDR: Gw2 Needs harder open world content, players should have built up the experience and know how by the time they got to that point.

[otto.5684]

> @"radda.8920" said:

> > @"Pockethole.5031" said:

> > -L2P your build

> > I am playing. I dodge and use the arsenal I have. And I still feel they are unnecessarily hard.

> > -then you are lying

> > Just like the rest of other humans, when something hurts me, it's my fault for existing. You always want to blame the thing least important to you.

> >

> > I didn't say I want to one-shot everything. Did you read what I wrote? I wrote like so: "wanting the game to be just a millimeter, a smidge, a tiny bit, a single pixel easier?"

> > For wishing a small quality of life change, I get judged as if I'm absolutely kitten at this game. Then I have no Idea how I've completed every story chapter until LS4 (and to top it off, with varying classes/specs).

> > Basically everything is my fault. Ok. Let's go with that. No argument here.

>

> no frankly, i don't understand how you can have difficulty in pof

> it is almost impossible to fail metas because they are so simple, even the bounties, I hardly failed a single one

> There is absolutely no form of challenge on pof, we are light years away from the level of HOT

>

> I think you have to review your whole way of playing in question because if cantha is much simpler than pof, we will end up on a pokemon level child's play.

> Sincerely if EoD is as easy as you ask, I see no point in buying it

 

I somewhat disagree. The djin are relatively hard. And that is not my opinion. When Anet showed statistics, earth djin was the mob with highest win rate against players, with 44% win rate. It could make to silver 3 in sPvP :p

 

With exception of the 2 ranged units in HoT (the frog leap and the land arrow damage), I would say the difficulty is about equal. PoF is just... empty. There are barely anything on the maps beside scattered mobs.

 

If you can make it to platinum in sPvP (whatever you want to put as PvE equivalent) open world will be super easy to you, regardless. It is designed for silver skill players to have a good time. And it makes sense, since majority of players are between mid silver to mid gold. And thus Anet designs the content so that average skill players are challenged enough to have fun.

[Linken.6345]

> @"Pockethole.5031" said:

> > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > Who are you quoting here?

>

> Myself from reddit.

>

> > @"Sobx.1758" said:

> > core maps

>

> What if I want to do the expansion content but at lower difficulty? Oh I guess I have to quit the game now for wanting to play it differently?

> How exactly is your answer a solution to my problem? If I want to feel like a god I open Control and one-shot everything.

> Why is it criminal, wrong for wanting the game to be just a millimeter, a smidge, a tiny bit, a single pixel easier? And not taking pleasure for being ganged on by mobs to death? I'm not a masochist. Difficulty is fine, but I am stating it is a bit too much.

> Actually? Don't answer. It's clear our opinions are too different for there to be any kind of discussion. I've said what I've had to say. You've said what you've had to say. Good bye.

>

 

Then get a friend or two or three even up to 4 and play together.

[radda.8920]

> @"otto.5684" said:

> > @"radda.8920" said:

> > > @"Pockethole.5031" said:

> > > -L2P your build

> > > I am playing. I dodge and use the arsenal I have. And I still feel they are unnecessarily hard.

> > > -then you are lying

> > > Just like the rest of other humans, when something hurts me, it's my fault for existing. You always want to blame the thing least important to you.

> > >

> > > I didn't say I want to one-shot everything. Did you read what I wrote? I wrote like so: "wanting the game to be just a millimeter, a smidge, a tiny bit, a single pixel easier?"

> > > For wishing a small quality of life change, I get judged as if I'm absolutely kitten at this game. Then I have no Idea how I've completed every story chapter until LS4 (and to top it off, with varying classes/specs).

> > > Basically everything is my fault. Ok. Let's go with that. No argument here.

> >

> > no frankly, i don't understand how you can have difficulty in pof

> > it is almost impossible to fail metas because they are so simple, even the bounties, I hardly failed a single one

> > There is absolutely no form of challenge on pof, we are light years away from the level of HOT

> >

> > I think you have to review your whole way of playing in question because if cantha is much simpler than pof, we will end up on a pokemon level child's play.

> > Sincerely if EoD is as easy as you ask, I see no point in buying it

>

> I somewhat disagree. The djin are relatively hard. And that is not my opinion. When Anet showed statistics, earth djin was the mob with highest win rate against players, with 44% win rate. It could make to silver 3 in sPvP :p

>

> With exception of the 2 ranged units in HoT (the frog leap and the land arrow damage), I would say the difficulty is about equal. PoF is just... empty. There are barely anything on the maps beside scattered mobs.

>

> If you can make it to platinum in sPvP (whatever you want to put as PvE equivalent) open world will be super easy to you, regardless. It is designed for silver skill players to have a good time. And it makes sense, since majority of players are between mid silver to mid gold. And thus Anet designs the content so that average skill players are challenged enough to have fun.

 

yes maybe djinn and sometimes hydra bounties are fun to do, a little challenge. The rest is for players who spend their time spamming 1

But I hope ,we will have events and metas much harder with EoD like during the release of the first expansion ( much more cooperation and organization).

So quite the opposite as requested by the author of this topic.

If cantha is as simple as he wants, I would be really disappointed, probably the last expansion so...

[Teratus.2859]

The problem isn't difficulty, PoF mobs are not that difficult to fight and hardly that much stronger than core world enemies.

 

The problem is that they can respawn too fast at times and have as others pointed out a pretty big aggro range which can make them a lot more annoying to deal with.

PoF content is overall a lot easier than HoT content was with the huge nerfs HoT got.

 

I'm actually hoping EoD will be a bit more difficult in certain areas of the world but not due to some poorly implemented mechanics like CC spam or fast respawns etc but rather because of a few strong enemies that can put up a real good fight.

 

If anyone has ever played the Xenoblade series of games for example they may understand what i'm going for.

In those games you have common enemies that match your level and power all over the open world maps but there are some enemies both hostile and passive that are insanely powerful and tons of levels higher than you can be by the time you first see them so you have to avoid them and come back later when you're much much stronger and better prepared to deal with them.

I wanna see stuff like that in Gw2 in EoD, really strong passive enemies that require a large amount of players and a great deal of time to take down kinda like a new type of world bosses but not done as event creatures that have timers etc.. they would be more like big super strong challenge creatures that require a lot of players and an organised strategy to take down.

Giving them unique rewards, big AP gain and titles would also be pretty good incentive to try and rally players to fight them too.

[LucianDK.8615]

The pof mobs are way easier than hot to deal with. This is a non issue.

[Llethander.3972]

I dunno... I play using an Xbox gamepad and have zero issue. PoF was not terribly challenging, at least for me.

[Tuco.2419]

I wish PoF was harder and had less mob density.

 

I can't swing a dead asura without hitting some chump mob that wants to pick a fight only to get blown out of their hide. I get that's their job, but they don't need to coat the landscape in a fine sheen.

 

[Naxos.2503]

I'd like neither, I just want it to be different from HoT (oppressive, swarmlike) and PoF (Ultra aggressive, war-situation). I enjoyed changing from one to another, even if yes, those darned forged snipers are a pain to deal with when you try to go from point A to B.

 

From what little I know of Cantha, there are chances of urban maps. That could very much put an emphasis on ambush and traps, among other things

[kharmin.7683]

GW2 being so casual-centric it would make no sense to move to exclude those casuals from expansion content. They probably make a large majority of the player base. Making an expansion harder than PoF/HoT would, IMO, cut down on sales.