PoF Intro Mission Impossible to Solo. What's up with the Difficulty Spike?

[thruine.8510]

> @"SlippyCheeze.5483" said:

>

> The vines have two attacks: once every ten seconds they have that spin/knockback thing, signalled by the red circle, and they have the three globs of poison shot thing every three seconds or so. To avoid the first, dodge a little after the indicator so you don't get hit, or just move out of the circle. (Using a +25% speed trait or utility will definitely help there, but you should have enough time -- with practice -- to work at "normal" speed out too, most of the time.)

>

> The dragon boss in the pale tree story instance is hard. Those are big attacks, and you have to cope with the (respawning) vines as well. Most of the attacks can be predicted by keeping focused on two things: where the dragon is located around the edges of the chamber, and the shape of the attack -- the cone, or the spots. The entire floor thing, dodge for. No other option.

 

See, that's helpful. Its unfortunate that I had so little chances to see that there were tells happening before this encounter. I didn't really have issue with the dragon itself because it really doesn't attack that much. It was everything else that came at the same time especially the vines. The size differences were just barely perceptive during the fight for me to know which was spreading the poison and it was always in relation to where I was standing at the time so when I did find gaps it would be quickly covered in poison to make remaining there problematic so in the end, I couldn't tell you where the biggest damage was coming from. I still don't honestly know which was more damaging. I'm surprised there are only three globs of poison since it seemed more red circles than that. It all served to make the entire encounter feel like total chaos. In short, this is information being shitted at me in such a rate that I didn't have time to process it before giving in to resignation. I'm sure someone found the fight fun and entertaining but I wasn't one of them. I think it rates as the worst experience I've had in the game. And just as an aside, I dislike when they adjust something that it seems to end up with you just win regardless. Look at what's working, look at what's being missed and actually make the fights better in all matters. I don't want to just win because I would spawn right next to it but because I figured out the clues. I'd be interested in the statistics of how many have all the achievements first time through while solo to see how well this fight has done its job. But then I think there's also a tendency to just slap an achievement on stuff knowing it needs a lot more than playing through the game. One reason they have no appeal to me since Wiki use and such shouldn't factor in.

 

> Yeah. GW2 actually has *unique* classes, which makes for a shock when you are conditioned to expect warrior to be the same thing in every MMO, because they are all just carbon copies of WoW, which is a carbon copy of earlier games. Finding the class you like can take more work. You may actually find that guardian -- hammer, or sword and shield -- is a better match to what you expect than warrior is.

>

> Entertainingly, you might also find necromancer, a cloth class, more to your taste -- especially the HoT reaper elite spec, which gives access to the greatsword, turning you into a high health pool, heavy melee hitting, two handed fighter.

 

I haven't gotten into necromancer yet but the other two casters I've been doing miles better with. And I never play casters until ESO which also taught they are your tanks, your healers and your damage dealers while the other classes are "specialized". I find it more than a little disappointing GW2 is also a game where the ideas of classic archetypes such as warrior and thief are being phased into some monstrosity that doesn't function as well in any area than a caster would. Although the mobility that comes natural to thief has me working with it better too. Warriors just have too much going against them for me to consider as viable through all game types play. Once, just once, I'm hoping to find a newer game will come along which will play to their actual strengths which Dungeons & Dragons set up back in the 70s all these game types are based on. Now its all about movement speeds and avoidance. We no longer have a game that has the heavily armed warrior strolling into battle soaking up damage like it was nothing just to punch the dragon if the face. More like a game of Tag and we're all running around "don't touch me" because we'd wilt with the slightest touch. What's more laughable, its once again the light armor classes that can absorb more damage and packs the biggest hits. Its possible that my entire history of playing games as a warrior while avoiding casters set me up to fail with one in this game. I always try them. I just don't like that no touchy game play. And I can understand with so many players preferring mage type characters, they can't design games around armors really having huge impacts or they'd be massacred. Maybe its my time of game playing when I'd started playing games, if you got hit as a mage, you were dead. And it was extremely punishing to die. Still curious is why not remove that type of class entirely the warrior title infers and the different grades of armor. But they always have that class that makes you think oh the tank...

 

> I think you will find that, generally, that is how all the GW2 classes feel to you, because the game puts a premium on player actions rather than passive numbers to handle combat. Instead of stacking large amounts of armor, then standing still and hitting something, you move around it, act to counter the attacks intelligently, avoid standing in range of the big attacks, and generally fight it like it was a threat, not like it was a training dummy.

>

> On the other hand, GW2 also has relatively few "stand still and cast" spells. Not none, but most things can be used while you move around. You can literally run circles around the enemy while attacking them, radically different from those other games.

 

First, I wouldn't say it radically different than others. Its becoming pretty standard with what I've been seeing. But I think we're glossing over the fact warriors are limited. Not just in my view of them but their actual bars. I can't speak to necromances, guardians, and a few others but they have basically the same dull play. Except with axes (which is what my new one will use) which has you throwing leaping and flailing. I'm trying to think if there is a wasted bar slot with axe/axe and nothing comes to mind. Then look at what you have on your right side. Its dull dull and more dull compared to others. And the benefit of putting up with all that dullness is you're more likely to be ineffective to boot. Granted that's just my experience and since warrior is what I wanted to play the reason I would point to why I put the game away for a few months after starting it earlier this year. I never would have played this game again had I found something else. Well, I did but I ran out of it. I finish Skyrim at long last and completed the last two expansions of WoW. If their new expansion had come out already, I probably would be mired in it. I have a love hate relationship with that game too like so many others but I think it does some things extremely well. I personally do not enjoying repeating the same things over and over which is why when I had seen all available, I left. There's a massive amount I haven't seen in GW2 but I'm starting to worry its thinks its so clever by these little choices it makes. No, don't give me total surprises in a story instance. That's the last place I want surprises with the game play of that scale. That's where the story is supposed to surprise me. I'm seeing more of the opposite. I find that annoying and it almost reached as high as my interest in why I was there. If that annoyance surpasses the interest in the story then... well, that will just be that I guess. I mean, they have this awesome dragon attack and chose to clutter up the map with every single Mordrem type available with all these attacks overlaying each other to the point to no longer carry there was a dragon there. I mean, the Pare Tree says she's fading and my only response is well I died a million time so get over it lady.

 

> I'm entirely sympathetic to this being difficult. I understand the frustration. Ultimately, this is part of where the game reaches the point that you need to learn the details of combat, and the simplest approach of standing still and fighting isn't going to work any longer. This will be just as true out in the world as it is in that story instance -- HoT and PoF enemies will be just as capable of turning you to mulch as the dragon was.

>

> It is absolutely possible to learn how to spot the tells, and practice until you understand the ebb and flow of GW2 combat. Ultimately, the approach of respawn and hit until you win is ... not going to work out, even if it gets you through that one story step.

>

> So, you have to ask yourself this: GW2 is *not* the same as other MMOs. It has unique classes, a different approach to combat, and a higher focus on player involvement rather than passive number increases. It also *never* allows you to simply outgear content, and so trivialize it. Even the best gear in the game won't keep you alive when you face the dragon, and even the most robust build will not let you survive very long standing still and fighting....

>

> So, ask yourself this: are you interested in learning this different approach to how an MMO works? Would you rather just go back to the comfortable sameness of WoW clones? That is absolutely possible, and there is no shame, and no failure, in that. You **don't have to like GW2** or the way it works. This is absolutely OK.

>

> Just be honest with yourself: GW2 has shown that the way you expected it to work, isn't how it is going to work.

>

> Nobody has to like everything, and nothing is to the taste of everybody. That is good, and fine, and why we have choices.

 

Oh, I appreciate all of that. I guess there's some form of miscommunication here. I've no issue leaving a game I dislike. I'm not like other players that so love a game they just plead and plead with the developers to make it so they can win or get the new shiny stuff. If I think you're are cheating me out of my time of enjoying a better game then I have no love for you and will simply go. I'm simply saying there's a problem here for me. I might be the only one if affects but to me its a problem. That's fine. All games have problems. It seems there actually are tells that I'm missing which is fine. I'm not saying this absolutely should be fashion for me and me alone. It just seems that if you take this encounter and put in this class type its not going to be as enjoyable if you had just used a different class or possibly the encounter itself needs to be looked at that its giving all players the chance to learn from it. Not necessary win because if the goal is solely to win then we all good here. There are hundreds of things vying for my attention, for all our attention. I've spent I think it was around $250 since my return on various stuff (like so many games, I never have enough bank space for example). But I have no problem leaving a game I've spent money on. I think I spend money all the time in games. I still have a sub to FFIX I haven't touched in four months because I think well I guess I play that but not today. There's no sub here. I need to be present to spend money. My thread about Orr shows their dynamic event system needs players or they need it reworked. This thread started by the OP who I think left long ago apparently tells them they aren't communicating their game play effectively. Now we can all dance around singing how perfect the game is but these are real concerns that will put this game right beside RIft and the like. Great massive potential games that just pissed it away. I've been there at the opening of them. Almost all of them. None of them didn't have something they needed to work on that they just ignored because the game is so great and all these people are telling us how great it was. Yet for some reason they may as well be dead and buried. I hope they have gotten better but what I'm hearing is no, its not better but you learn over time to read clues to the point you can get through it. I've no doubt there are some which enjoyed the fight but I wonder still did you really enjoy it or well I'm past it so that's good enough. Like I've been saying, that's just me. I guess we'll see if I make it to the end or not.

[battledrone.8315]

> @"LucianDK.8615" said:

> i suspect wow is to blame for setting the bar too low for casuals expecting it everywhere else.

 

that is funny, since this game is practically built on wows success

without the casual parts, this game would had been on the same course as wildstar

and that is why the mmo genre is struggling, even if they start with NEW and REVOLUTIONARY features...they all end up in the same place