<spoilers> Is the LW 4 Ep 2 boss bugged or just poor design?

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

> @"Healix.5819" said:

> > @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > So you’re saying the endlessly resetting ley energy blasts and the core not spawning I had at the last stage was intended?

>

> During the last ~25%, the boss is meant to go into attack mode and no longer be shielded. For DPS builds, you should be able to take down the core to ~33% the first time, which begins the final phase. When this phase starts, the Charr grant you power, increasing your damage by 100%. You now attack the boss normally and once you take down it down to ~5%, the core pops out for a final time, which destroys the boss when defeated.

>

> The mechanic of the ley energy is to remove the shields, but if there isn't any, it causes 25 stacks of vulnerability, then refunds the used charge. If it wasn't shielded, yes, it was intended.

 

Ah ok. By that time I was tired of that fight and just wanted to get out of there and do other stuff. So I continued to throw that energy thing while I chatted with the guild and waited for that crossed swords thing to show back up. lol.

[Zappix.7928]

The final mission was absolute hell, not the mechanics, not the boss no no none of that. It was the lag, I had it on the lowest settings and I was getting 1 frame per hour. It was hell, please hold me. :s

[Boris Losdindawoods.3098]

When a dev wants to add an auto-res feature to a living world boss fight, somebody needs to smack him in the back of the head and scream, "just fix the damned fight instead!"

 

This fight was stupid.

[DarcShriek.5829]

> @"Healix.5819" said:

> > @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > So you’re saying the endlessly resetting ley energy blasts and the core not spawning I had at the last stage was intended?

>

> During the last ~25%, the boss is meant to go into attack mode and no longer be shielded. For DPS builds, you should be able to take down the core to ~33% the first time, which begins the final phase. When this phase starts, the Charr grant you power, increasing your damage by 100%. You now attack the boss normally and once you take down it down to ~5%, the core pops out for a final time, which destroys the boss when defeated.

>

> The mechanic of the ley energy is to remove the shields, but if there isn't any, it causes 25 stacks of vulnerability, then refunds the used charge. If it wasn't shielded, yes, it was intended.

 

> @"Healix.5819" said:

> > @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> > So you’re saying the endlessly resetting ley energy blasts and the core not spawning I had at the last stage was intended?

>

> During the last ~25%, the boss is meant to go into attack mode and no longer be shielded. For DPS builds, you should be able to take down the core to ~33% the first time, which begins the final phase. When this phase starts, the Charr grant you power, increasing your damage by 100%. You now attack the boss normally and once you take down it down to ~5%, the core pops out for a final time, which destroys the boss when defeated.

>

> The mechanic of the ley energy is to remove the shields, but if there isn't any, it causes 25 stacks of vulnerability, then refunds the used charge. If it wasn't shielded, yes, it was intended.

 

Except that’s not what happened. At about 28% the shields quit coming. So the fight became this super tedious slog fest until about 18%. Then I went on the internet to see how to end this boring fight. I didn’t find an answer but when I came back to the fight the core had popped out and I finished in an instant

[Laila Lightness.8742]

Stupid mechanics gw 2 is meant too be playable for all

[Healix.5819]

> @"DarcShriek.5829" said:

> Except that’s not what happened. At about 28% the shields quit coming. So the fight became this super tedious slog fest until about 18%. Then I went on the internet to see how to end this boring fight. I didn’t find an answer but when I came back to the fight the core had popped out and I finished in an instant

 

That sounds... right? I don't know the exact percentages, just that the core won't lets you go lower than 33% or so, which damages the boss enough to trigger the final stage. It's fully intended to stop shielding itself at that point, which you should know when it happens since the NPCs will tell you to finish it and grant you power, which increases the size of your character a little. If that never happened, then yes, you probably encountered a bug.

 

If you're a condition build, they're usually great at breaking encounters, since the devs tend to forget that conditions can continue ticking when you can't deal direct damage, which can trigger the next stage and cause it to break.

 

-

 

Just tried replaying it (took about 5 minutes to get to the boss), killing it very slowly. The final phase started at 35% and the final core popped at 10%.

 

After a little experimenting, the Charr can bug and not give you the power buff at the end. It happens when you rush to the boss room. The one that tells you to go in goes over and puts up a shield after speaking; rushing in during this seems to break it.

 

> @"Boris Losdindawoods.3098" said:

> When a dev wants to add an auto-res feature to a living world boss fight, somebody needs to smack him in the back of the head and scream, "just fix the damned fight instead!"

 

It was more likely done as a joke. This episode seemed to be making fun of past complaints. Season 3 had nearly an identical mechanic with using the bloodstones to break the boss, except back then, the NPCs actually told you what to do during the tutorial phase, yet people still missed it. Nearly every episode has people complaining about dying and how tedious these bosses are, usually because they're doing it wrong or focus on defense, so here we have a very simple boss fight where it's not even possible to die. The real funny part however is the puzzles a little later. Season 3 had a very similar puzzle with the bloodstone cages, which was of course complained about. This time, the puzzle used simply buttons, so it's quicker to understand, but the funny part is, they tell you up front that it's meant to keep stupid people out.

 

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

> @"Healix.5819" said:

> > @"DarcShriek.5829" said:

> > Except that’s not what happened. At about 28% the shields quit coming. So the fight became this super tedious slog fest until about 18%. Then I went on the internet to see how to end this boring fight. I didn’t find an answer but when I came back to the fight the core had popped out and I finished in an instant

>

> That sounds... right? I don't know the exact percentages, just that the core won't lets you go lower than 33% or so, which damages the boss enough to trigger the final stage. It's fully intended to stop shielding itself at that point, which you should know when it happens since the NPCs will tell you to finish it and grant you power, which increases the size of your character a little. If that never happened, then yes, you probably encountered a bug.

>

> If you're a condition build, they're usually great at breaking encounters, since the devs tend to forget that conditions can continue ticking when you can't deal direct damage, which can trigger the next stage and cause it to break.

>

> > @"Boris Losdindawoods.3098" said:

> > When a dev wants to add an auto-res feature to a living world boss fight, somebody needs to smack him in the back of the head and scream, "just fix the damned fight instead!"

>

> It was more likely done as a joke. This episode seemed to be making fun of past complaints. Season 3 had nearly an identical mechanic with using the bloodstones to break the boss, except back then, the NPCs actually told you what to do during the tutorial phase, yet people still missed it. Nearly every episode has people complaining about dying and how tedious these bosses are, usually because they're doing it wrong or focus on defense, so here we have a very simply boss fight where it's not even possible to die. The real funny part however is the puzzles a little later. Season 3 had a very similar puzzle with the bloodstone cages, which was of course complained about. This time, the puzzle used simply buttons, so it's quicker to understand, but the funny part is, they tell you up front that it's meant to keep stupid people out.

>

 

Just what we needed. A story section where past complaints are used to make mechanics to troll the players and let the people who are having problems know that the staff thinks they’re stupid.

[DarcShriek.5829]

The fact that it was impossible to die took all the tension away from the encounter. It was incredibly boring as well as tedious

[Daroon.1736]

The answer to the OP's original question is both. On the question of poor design, at the point that they realized that the encounter needed an auto ress feature, then that should have been a big enough flag to understand that something is wrong. The only 'good' thing I can say about this encounter is at least it doesn't take place in a small enclosed space with the useless camera bouncing around all over the place like the hideous Caudecus fight.

[Ardenwolfe.8590]

Well, last night I finished this latest episode. And I can say, without any doubt, the Golem Boss fight was the worst part. Otherwise, it was a pretty good episode with a twist ending. No spoilers.

 

But yes, my Golem fight definitely bugged from the videos I've seen. Not the best of experiences, yet not the worst either.

 

That prize still goes to the bugged final boss in Heart of Thorns.

[Kilty.4906]

I haven't had any problems with this boss yet, besides dying for taking too much damage but that's my fault.

[sorudo.9054]

first they add some kind of enemy necro's can't kill and now they add a boss more suited for games like raptor, did they forgot that this isn't tera where everyone can block on command?

[RoseofGilead.8907]

> @"sorudo.9054" said:

> first they add some kind of enemy necro's can't kill

 

Which enemy was that?

[Quarktastic.1027]

The thing that really peeved me about this boss, was its resistance to condition damage. The energy core takes increased physical damage, but not condition damage, essentially making the 3 min achievement impossible. I'll probably have to do it again on my DH or something.

[ImTasty.2163]

> @"Daroon.1736" said:

> The lack of in game information to try and help you work out the mechanics is even worse than usual in this fight.

 

I'd have to disagree with this. While I do think the health can be toned down a bit the mechanics were already explained prior to the fight.

 

The boss has the same grey shield icon under his health bar like those other shield golems you had to use the lay energy on so I knew right away what I had to do. It's just a matter of how well you paid attention to the fights leading up to the boss fight.

[Sithis.3564]

Did it on 3 toons already and managed to get the boss down under 3 minutes with my Reaper. **During the escort w8 for more cubes to spawn ( they do that at each mini boss ) and always keep a stack of 4. When the boss battle starts you can already drop his shield down.** Good fight overall.

[Healix.5819]

> @"Sithis.3564" said:

> **During the escort w8 for more cubes to spawn ( they do that at each mini boss ) and always keep a stack of 4. When the boss battle starts you can already drop his shield down.**

 

At the very start, if you immediately kill one of the power golems to get a charge, you can kill the shielded golem before the others, which causes the other ones to die. For whatever reason, doing this causes more power golems to spawn 2 at a time behind you every few minutes, or roughly by the time you reach the next 2 shielded golems. Just don't rush ahead killing them, because if the shielded golem dies before Braham stops, he will bug and just stand there begging for help.

 

Although you could pull the boss' core out immediately, let it spawn the golems and kill one of them for a 5th charge, then pull its core. Having a charge allows you to keep up 25 stacks of vulnerability as long as you want.

[Rezzet.3614]

yeah was a bug if you werent gettin cores, normally she's stupid easy

i had the opposite happen to me i would hit her with cores and she would spawn more lol , ended up each round with like 9 cores all over the ground

[DeadTreeJig.6714]

> @"Quarktastic.1027" said:

> The thing that really peeved me about this boss, was its resistance to condition damage. The energy core takes increased physical damage, but not condition damage, essentially making the 3 min achievement impossible. I'll probably have to do it again on my DH or something.

 

Same here. It took forever with my reaper, I don't know how many times she auto-rez'd. On the other hand my power ranger had it a lot easier, it didn't make it less boring just not a long (not ~3 minutes though).

[Dreamy Lu.3865]

Same for me with reaper. I was not able to manage it. I understood the mechanics, but my problem were the continuous AOEs on me, long range, so with no single position allowing to stay quiet for half a second and rebuild health. With also the slower motion from being in combat and the dodging possible only twice in a row and that seems incredibly long to recharge under such stress... That made it real hard to me. I got tired and feeling like: "Please, where is the exit?". I left via logging out (found no other way...).

 

My solution was to return to it with friends, who got me through comfortably. But me lazy! :3

[Kraggy.4169]

> @"Warscythes.9307" said:

> Man imagine the QQ there will be if GW2 do the same thing as FFXIV and force you to do group content in order to progress the story.

 

That's when GW2 will end, since as I see it GW2 isn't aimed at hardcore group-or-die players such as your seem to be and players will leave in droves: GW2 has always been more about story and the ability to solo or free-group (such as HoT zone events) and not a 1990's forced-group MMO.

 

HoT changed the direction and suffered the result, your suggestion would simply hasten its demise.

 

Oh, and FFXIV is a success because it's largely aimed at and played by Japanese players whose society is very much about doing things together and not alone, it's the only successful MMO still played by large numbers of players that does have group-or-die gating of core progression.

 

[bob.5680]

> @"Kraggy.4169" said:

> > @"Warscythes.9307" said:

> > Man imagine the QQ there will be if GW2 do the same thing as FFXIV and force you to do group content in order to progress the story.

>

> That's when GW2 will end, since as I see it GW2 isn't aimed at hardcore group-or-die players such as your seem to be and players will leave in droves: GW2 has always been more about story and the ability to solo or free-group (such as HoT zone events) and not a 1990's forced-group MMO.

>

> HoT changed the direction and suffered the result, your suggestion would simply hasten its demise.

>

> Oh, and FFXIV is a success because it's largely aimed at and played by Japanese players whose society is very much about doing things together and not alone, it's the only successful MMO still played by large numbers of players that does have group-or-die gating of core progression.

>

Yep, I've been playing GW2 since it came out and would be one of the first to quit if grouping was required. I enjoy grouping with others sometime, but only when I fee like it...not always, just to play the game.

 

[Einlanzer.1627]

A lot of bosses in the story episodes are designed poorly, IMO.

[FogLeg.9354]

The Mark II Beta Exterminator Golem is just boring. Easiest way to get through is to auto attack him at melee range and never worry about your HP. You will be auto-healed when you go down so there is zero danger involved. When you get pushed away, simply run back to melee and continue. I was eventually browsing the web during this fight.

[mindcircus.1506]

Challenge /= bad design.