You need to make the main story chain soloable.

[Khisanth.2948]

> @"Doghouse.1562" said:

> In the original Guild Wars, a huge part of making progress in the game was making sure you equipped appropriate skills before leaving the cities and entering the instanced content - and as you progressed through the game, the "right" skills were, increasingly, elite ones that you had to actually go out and adventure to acquire. Guild Wars 2 hasn't made quite such a big deal of skills, but it definitely shares that basic ethos with its predecessor. You have a raft of skills (some now called "specializations"), each of which has its pluses and minuses, and many of them will be useful in some situations and not others. And - whether you like it or not - the game is still, at its heart, designed around an assumption that players will make at least some attempt to find a build that's at least vaguely suitable to the content they're doing. Your choices are much wider than they were with GW, and lots more will work - but whenever you have a choice of what build to run, there will always be ones that are out-and-out **bad**, and you need to recognise that. ("They" aren't going to mark builds as such - what works and what doesn't shifts over time as the game is tuned, and it's us players who, ultimately, find out what works and what doesn't. If you want opinions, read the forums; maybe post a build there.) But when all specs are available to everyone, the alternative, frankly, is content that's so lacking in challenge that most people are complaining about how "easy" the game is - and if that's the sort of game you're looking for you, then (a) GW2 isn't it, and (b) I seriously wonder what MMO is - or who would publish it and expect to make money.

 

GW2 was still like that for the first year or 2 of its life. You have to go to a profession trainer to reset your traits.

 

As for bad builds ... well there are bad builds and then there are people who didn't even bother to allocate any trait lines :/

[BunjiKugashira.9754]

> @"Khisanth.2948" said:

> > @"Doghouse.1562" said:

> > In the original Guild Wars, a huge part of making progress in the game was making sure you equipped appropriate skills before leaving the cities and entering the instanced content - and as you progressed through the game, the "right" skills were, increasingly, elite ones that you had to actually go out and adventure to acquire. Guild Wars 2 hasn't made quite such a big deal of skills, but it definitely shares that basic ethos with its predecessor. You have a raft of skills (some now called "specializations"), each of which has its pluses and minuses, and many of them will be useful in some situations and not others. And - whether you like it or not - the game is still, at its heart, designed around an assumption that players will make at least some attempt to find a build that's at least vaguely suitable to the content they're doing. Your choices are much wider than they were with GW, and lots more will work - but whenever you have a choice of what build to run, there will always be ones that are out-and-out **bad**, and you need to recognise that. ("They" aren't going to mark builds as such - what works and what doesn't shifts over time as the game is tuned, and it's us players who, ultimately, find out what works and what doesn't. If you want opinions, read the forums; maybe post a build there.) But when all specs are available to everyone, the alternative, frankly, is content that's so lacking in challenge that most people are complaining about how "easy" the game is - and if that's the sort of game you're looking for you, then (a) GW2 isn't it, and (b) I seriously wonder what MMO is - or who would publish it and expect to make money.

>

> GW2 was still like that for the first year or 2 of its life. You have to go to a profession trainer to reset your traits.

>

> As for bad builds ... well there are bad builds and then there are people who didn't even bother to allocate any trait lines :/

 

Yeah, I always wonder about those. If you're not excited about all the extra stuff your character can passively do and find good combinations, then why play an RPG in the first place? Wouldn't a game with pre-defined characters and roles better? Well, I'm kinda a hardcore build-crafter who wouldn't even walk 3 steps in the tutorial before reading every single skill my character has to offer and planning a build.

[seinka.4823]

> @"BunjiKugashira.9754" said:

> Well, I'm kinda a hardcore build-crafter who wouldn't even walk 3 steps in the tutorial before reading every single skill my character has to offer and planning a build.

 

Hm... I'm kind of opposite. I run into a fight in "what happens if I use this skill?" style and when I start dying, I decide it's a good time to read the skill descriptions. But even like this I was able to solo the vanilla story line. As expected, I died a lot.

[Khisanth.2948]

> @"BunjiKugashira.9754" said:

> > @"Khisanth.2948" said:

> > > @"Doghouse.1562" said:

> > > In the original Guild Wars, a huge part of making progress in the game was making sure you equipped appropriate skills before leaving the cities and entering the instanced content - and as you progressed through the game, the "right" skills were, increasingly, elite ones that you had to actually go out and adventure to acquire. Guild Wars 2 hasn't made quite such a big deal of skills, but it definitely shares that basic ethos with its predecessor. You have a raft of skills (some now called "specializations"), each of which has its pluses and minuses, and many of them will be useful in some situations and not others. And - whether you like it or not - the game is still, at its heart, designed around an assumption that players will make at least some attempt to find a build that's at least vaguely suitable to the content they're doing. Your choices are much wider than they were with GW, and lots more will work - but whenever you have a choice of what build to run, there will always be ones that are out-and-out **bad**, and you need to recognise that. ("They" aren't going to mark builds as such - what works and what doesn't shifts over time as the game is tuned, and it's us players who, ultimately, find out what works and what doesn't. If you want opinions, read the forums; maybe post a build there.) But when all specs are available to everyone, the alternative, frankly, is content that's so lacking in challenge that most people are complaining about how "easy" the game is - and if that's the sort of game you're looking for you, then (a) GW2 isn't it, and (b) I seriously wonder what MMO is - or who would publish it and expect to make money.

> >

> > GW2 was still like that for the first year or 2 of its life. You have to go to a profession trainer to reset your traits.

> >

> > As for bad builds ... well there are bad builds and then there are people who didn't even bother to allocate any trait lines :/

>

> Yeah, I always wonder about those. If you're not excited about all the extra stuff your character can passively do and find good combinations, then why play an RPG in the first place? Wouldn't a game with pre-defined characters and roles better? Well, I'm kinda a hardcore build-crafter who wouldn't even walk 3 steps in the tutorial before reading every single skill my character has to offer and planning a build.

 

That is one of those question which is impossible to answer unless you have been in the position yourself.

 

GW2 does feel like it has especially "dense" skills. There are many cases of a single skill doing a bunch of different things. Sometimes it is also easy to forget some of the "extra" things a skill does. For example I am often end up forgetting ele's focus #4 in earth can remove 3 conditions(also a blast finisher, projectile reflect and cripple nearby enemies). Even with a good build you still have to know what all the skills/traits do and make appropriate use of them in a given situation.

[Mea.5491]

I've soloed the WHOLE storyline in the game so far with a Celestial Engineer and a Celestial Elementalist, zero deaths (except for THAT Balthazar fight -cough-), a couple of downs. I only grouped up for Hearts&Minds because my solo instance was bugged and I got angry. I think most people can't solo story because they use glass cannon gear. People say defensive stats are bad but I strongly disagree! I am the best proof, I solo story with 2 Celestial characters. ;) I also used to solo the whole thing with my old Knight-Cavalier Reaper (deleted because I don't like Necro anymore). Seriously, if you can't handle the meta, grab some defensive gear!

[Lunarlife.5128]

> @"Kaizok.7839" said:

> > @"Chickenooble.5014" said:

> > > @"Kaizok.7839" said:

> > > Maybe he talk about Arah, that's a dungeon and not a solo instance.

> >

> > I solo'd Arah because I disconnected from my group. I figured, "Why not?" I went in with my Mesmer (full exotics) and played really friggin smart. It's completely possible and I consider myself an average player.

>

> Yeah, well, I was away for a few years so I was not aware that Arah has been made solo-able during that time.

>

> So I've tried it right after the OP's post... done it without dying (renegade sb).

> A little too easy B)

 

Arah isn't solo able. There's a mechanic that literally requires a group to stand on pressure plates if I'm not mistaken.

[battledrone.8315]

> @"Doghouse.1562" said:

> > @"battledrone.8315" said:

> > lol...so i spent the last 17 years in the wrong genre?

> > my first mmo was a hardcore sandbox title. earth&beyond..that withered and died

> > second was wow..even had full PVP gear on my main toons

> > city of heroes, perfect world, aion ,tera, STO ,SWTOR ,APB , WoT, WoWS,FF ARR..and thats just the big ones

> > i know good gaming when i see it

> > and those stories are ruining the game

>

> Hey - *you're* the one complaining that you can't get through content that's been pretty much the same for 5 years, and that most of 11 million players seem perfectly happy with. OK, "wrong genre" doesn't apply in your case - but you're certainly dragging *some* sort of baggage with you, that's stopping you getting to grips with even the basics of this particular game. Perhaps you should take a look at you assumptions, and see which ones are flawed.

>

> (I won't say more than that - like I said - I wasn't trying to have an argument, simply make a few points.)

 

you seem to forget one important thing: the nerfing has already started...they have even nerfed the the low level OW zones

and orr...and several bosses

this is a business...they have to go , where the money is

with so many F2P games you cant make the customers feel bad about anything, or they will simply go somewhere else

and if they wanted it to be a niche game in the first place, then they prolly shouldnt have sold millions of boxes to ordinary people

that is why the expansions are struggling..you already have millions of disgruntled ex players out there, giving it a bad reputation

im not a raider at heart , but i can actually have some fun and some shinies in raids in other games

its easier, and a lot more fun, than stories were in this game

i have seen this happen before, most notably in SWTOR

SWTOR at least tried to remedy the situation..they nerfed it so much, that it is actually EASIER , than wow

not 11 mio players..11 mio ACCOUNTS

if they had ever been near 11 mio players, then there would be no trouble at all

[battledrone.8315]

> @"Catty.3894" said:

> > @"Tom.9516" said:

> > So many helpfull comments but no reply from Op. Makes u think this is just another troll post, or OP does not really care about this game " he so badly wants to play".

>

> Might've lost track of the thread or/and got helped by someone that added them ig and now has no use for it.

 

or ..he uninstalled, and went to another game

i may be wrong, but statistics are in my favor

[nottsgman.8206]

> @"Lunarlife.5128" said:

> > @"Kaizok.7839" said:

> > > @"Chickenooble.5014" said:

> > > > @"Kaizok.7839" said:

> > > > Maybe he talk about Arah, that's a dungeon and not a solo instance.

> > >

> > > I solo'd Arah because I disconnected from my group. I figured, "Why not?" I went in with my Mesmer (full exotics) and played really friggin smart. It's completely possible and I consider myself an average player.

> >

> > Yeah, well, I was away for a few years so I was not aware that Arah has been made solo-able during that time.

> >

> > So I've tried it right after the OP's post... done it without dying (renegade sb).

> > A little too easy B)

>

> Arah isn't solo able. There's a mechanic that literally requires a group to stand on pressure plates if I'm not mistaken.

 

that was taken out of the story instance in 2015 when the instance was reworked as part of the personal story to be soloable, now only one person has to touch one of the plates.

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

> @"battledrone.8315" said:

> > @"Catty.3894" said:

> > > @"Tom.9516" said:

> > > So many helpfull comments but no reply from Op. Makes u think this is just another troll post, or OP does not really care about this game " he so badly wants to play".

> >

> > Might've lost track of the thread or/and got helped by someone that added them ig and now has no use for it.

>

> or ..he uninstalled, and went to another game

> i may be wrong, but statistics are in my favor

 

Going by the way he made his comment, it seemed like he had enough and then just stopped playing after getting the reaction he gotten in game and decided to look elsewhere to not deal with it no more.

[moonstarmac.4603]

> @"Lunarlife.5128" said:

> > @"Kaizok.7839" said:

> > > @"Chickenooble.5014" said:

> > > > @"Kaizok.7839" said:

> > > > Maybe he talk about Arah, that's a dungeon and not a solo instance.

> > >

> > > I solo'd Arah because I disconnected from my group. I figured, "Why not?" I went in with my Mesmer (full exotics) and played really friggin smart. It's completely possible and I consider myself an average player.

> >

> > Yeah, well, I was away for a few years so I was not aware that Arah has been made solo-able during that time.

> >

> > So I've tried it right after the OP's post... done it without dying (renegade sb).

> > A little too easy B)

>

> Arah isn't solo able. There's a mechanic that literally requires a group to stand on pressure plates if I'm not mistaken.

 

Actually that part is changed. You just step onto one plate and the door opens. Soloed it on my Rev a week ago.

[reukies.6418]

> @"Tomoko.4071" said:

> I hate to be that guy but as a new player, I am unable to even finish the vanilla story chain, let a lone the new expansions. I bought all the new content, excited and ready to dive into it, found out all the content is designed for groups, but as a new player I can't find any groups or parties. I've been through four guilds and had to leave every single one because of toxic members and trolling. I really want to play this game but I'm sick of sitting around major cities, posting in map chat and getting ZERO response outside of people trolling me or heckling me for asking in map chat. This community is garbage, making this game not new player friendly. If anyone is lurking the forums to think about buying this game don't buy it unless you already know people playing. New players are not welcome here.

 

I solo'd the whole thing. I used sword dagger weaver...nothing was really hard, I did get downed a few times though. I am sorry, if you find the personal story hard, goodluck doing the HoT story...