l2p

[taconight.3167]

I am about a month in. I love this game. Have an 80 guardian, mesmer, thief, necro, and ranger (working on elementalist, warrior, revenant now). When i first started, i made the mistake of using the 80 boost having not played since release. I decided to make a ranger and leveled it up the normal way. I get to HoT , get wrecked and my damage is poo poo. I finally figure out stats and build synergy (power stats on power builds and how they work). So, my next issue becomes that i am just dying...to everything. I am slightly better on mesmer because of all the get out of jail cards and my necro with the ultimate get out of jail card. It's still incredibly hard to survive.

 

 

I realized that this isn't wow, where you just mindlessly press 3 buttons on trash and move out of a circle from time to time. There are some very punishing mechanics and I am just struggling with how to actually fight. THe biggest glaring issue, is that i am an old man and i miss the obvious things sometimes. I was wondering if anyone could help me understand how to attack. Some of my classes require standing still to do stuff but i die. I am not seeing a lot of indicators on attacks and what not other than move out of red rings on the ground. I feel like i may be missing some basic concepts. For example, i was doing the story on PoF where these elites raise their sword in the air and cast this flame strike thing all over the place and you gotta keep moving. Figured it out, but when i go into attack he just charges through me and then i end up dying a slow death trying to get off the ground as he casts the lighting sword flaming thing.

 

so, i am really just looking on some help with combat. Indicators, what to look for and when to move. Maybe some suggested viewing on youtube?

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Ayrilana.1396]

What are you dying to? Starting with Living Story Season 2 (DryTop & Silverwastes), enemies started having mechanics.

 

If there’s a teal (?) bar underneath the HP bar, that would be the break bar. You generally want to deplete it by using CC skills.

 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Control_effect

 

[taconight.3167]

sometimes the ankle biting raptors in HoT will get me. Last night though was The path of fire story, i made it to the sacrifice and had some big transformer guy and the elite forged officers. I just couldn't survive, even running around everywhere.

[Oglaf.1074]

Those mini-raptors are notorious and will lay low even veteran players such as myself that have been playing since launch. They’re just awful. Don’t feel bad about them getting you occasionally.

[Biff.5312]

Well, I'd suggest first that you level up normally - it sounds like you've rushed several toons to 80 rather than taking some time to explore (have you done the story elements?). Also, don't go straight to the toughest maps if you're still figuring out your profession's mechanics. Start on easier ones. Do world events, and you'll just naturally develop improved skills over time. A lot of what keeps you alive is either muscle-memory (which takes time to develop) or knowledge of what the mob is going to do (which requires experience). Just don't expect to be expert a month in.

[Steve The Cynic.3217]

Many (most?) (all?) foes' indicators are their movements, so you have to watch the foe as well as the ground. They don't put little icons above their heads like in GW1, nor "cast bars" somewhere convenient like e.g. SWTOR. No, they *move* a particular way, and that means that they are going to do *that*, and there *isn't* a ground marker for it.

 

My classic example is ordinary Ettins of the sort you find in e.g. Queensdale or Kessex Hills. They aren't the toughest of foes, but they *are* tougher than e.g. bandits or spiders or drakes. Anyway, they have a big cleaving knock-down attack that they do periodically, and they telegraph it with *that* movement. It means they are going to do their cleave-wth-knockdown covering about 180 degrees in front of them for two or three metres depth. Don't be there.

 

But you have to watch the *Ettin*, not the ground at its feet, and for some foes, especially in nice friendly places like HoT maps, you have to watch the ground as well as the foe.

 

And yes, nobody likes Pocket Raptors, although I'm much less fussed by them than I used to be.

 

For reference, I'm 52, which many people have told me isn't *OLD*, but I'm not a teenager any more either.

[taconight.3167]

thanks steve. kinda the answer i was looking for. The indicator is animation or actions. I am guessing this is just a repetition familiarity issue as i play. In wow, swtor, and so many other mmo's the enemy has cast bars or an addon that tells you what's going to happen. i like that guild wars 2 doesn't hold your hand but on some mobs, it's really hard.

 

there's a mob in hot that shoots these brown spikes...I have no clue how to minimize the damage or get away from it. It tracks me, and wilil wipe out all my health if i aggro the mob.

[Biff.5312]

 

> And yes, nobody likes Pocket Raptors, although I'm much less fussed by them than I used to be.

 

I've never understood the hate for them myself. Never gave me any problems on any profession. Just use whatever aoe you've got and they pretty much insta-die.

 

[Aetatis.5418]

it is really just experience. the longer you play/the more patterns you recognize (all mobs have a somewhat limited pattern... its scripted after all), the easier things get.

like - predict what is coming and deal with it, before it happens (muscle memory).

 

dont expect to be a pro right from the start, **take your time**.

 

if you die a lot to a _specific thing_, change skills/weapons until you beat it. -> cc (daze, stun, fear, chill, cripple, knockback, knockdown, float, sink, blind) or utility (block, additional evades, invulnerability, reflects, extra heals from traits - the more experienced you get over time, the less defensive utilities you need... depending on the encounter and profession maybe none at all).

ask how someone else is doing it (the specific things you are struggling with) on the same profession, watch them doing it/helping you.

 

binding actions to very quick accessible keys on your keyboard is also a thing to consider. - really helps (if you havent done it yet)

 

examples:

- are you still double tapping w, a, s, d to dodge something? dont use double tap! use a key next to space (v by default; b, c, x as alternatives) - that way you are able to control the direction you want to dodge a lot easier.

 

other examples:

- promote skill target

if you target an enemy via mouse or tab - then use a leap skill (GS 3 on ranger), you will leap to that target.

if target promotion is active and you dont have a target, the leap will be executed to the closest target available.

if the function is deactivated, you can leap in any direction you want to, as long as you do not have a target (! et voila, an escape skill!!).

 

- weapon swapping, is implemented for a reason :3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ReaverKane.7598]

@"taconight.3167"

Well, i'll have to say from your original post that you seem to have rolled through a lot of characters for a single month. I doubt that in one month you, or anyone else, would have a good enough insight on each class to be able to counter everything and anything.

Don't worry, it's not that you're bad or lacking, is just that you've rushed things a little, and you need to get familiarized with the classes a bit more, and, more importantly, the enemies a bit more.

HoT was a lot less forgiving than anything prior, and most things since... It was meant as a nod to the more "hardcore" players and to incentivize group vs single play. Problem is that this game tends to have a high turnover rate for content, and those good intentions tend to get buried in the wave of players just running to the newest thing, so we must adapt. And to adapt we need to learn.

Since season 2, but especially HoT, enemies started being less tank and spank, and having some nuance to them. That's why you're failing, really, just need to learn those nuances.

 

IDK what the brown thing is you mentioned later, but it kinda sounds like a Bristleback (an armadillo looking dino that shoots scales at you). Well like Karkas, there's two ways to avoid getting killed by them:

Have a strong projectile barrier/reflector, or just try to dodge them all... The later tends to not avoid all damage though since the dodge window is shorter than the critter volleys.

 

I suggest finding people to play with, that will help make the mistakes less painful, and if they're experienced, you can also learn from them. It **is** how a MMORPG is meant to be played.

[Ojimaru.8970]

> For example, i was doing the story on PoF where these elites raise their sword in the air and cast this flame strike thing all over the place and you gotta keep moving. Figured it out, but when i go into attack he just charges through me and then i end up dying a slow death trying to get off the ground as he casts the lighting sword flaming thing.

 

The described attack from Veteran Forged Officers is best interrupted with hard crowd control effects (e.g. daze, stun, knockback, knockdown, fear, launch, and transforms). This will immediately negate the attack and open them up for punishment. The charge attack they do is hard to avoid while in melee, but you can counter it with utility skills that break stun.

 

> there's a mob in hot that shoots these brown spikes...I have no clue how to minimize the damage or get away from it. It tracks me, and will wipe out all my health if i aggro the mob.

 

Bristlebacks attack primarily by launching their spikes at enemies. These spikes are considered projectiles, and are susceptible to effects that destroy projectiles (e.g. Guardian Shield of Absorption, Thief Smoke Screen), or reflect them (e.g. Mesmer's Feedback, Ranger's Whirling Defense). You can also attempt to interrupt the attacks of the larger Bristlebacks by applying crowd control effects to break their Defiance Bar, thereby giving you a five-second window to quickly kill them.

 

Next, don't underestimate the efficacy of Boons and Conditions in Guild Wars 2. While Might and Fury are amazing at increasing your damage output, Boons like Protection (reduce incoming damage by 33%), Resistance (ignore all Condition effects for the duration), and Regeneration (small amounts of healing every second) can significantly improve your survivability. Likewise, Conditions like Weakness (50% to cause the next enemy attack to deal only 50% damage), Slow (reduce enemy attack animation speed by 50%), and Blind (cause the next enemy attack to Miss) are often overlooked by many players.

 

Last but not least, don't feel bad about dying in the open world. Guild Wars 2 has some terribly designed enemies and damage scaling, especially in the open world. There is a heavy emphasis on memorizing and anticipating enemy attack patterns, or have 16-year-old, sub-100 ms ping reaction times.

[rng.1024]

Aside from gear you have 3 things that will keep you alive:

 

- Evades (dodges, weapon/utility skills, traits)

- Blocks (weapon/utility skills, traits)

- Invulnerability (utility skills and traits)

 

These are your active defenses - learn to use them efficiently. If you do like me and run full zerker, always have an "emergency" skill on your bar to use if overwhelmed, preferably instant cast and stunbreak - because you can't really gauge an attack or foe in this game before getting hit. But most importantly simply learn by failing what attacks to avoid, as even the toughest mobs in the game will have 2 of these tops.

 

And most importantly never stand still. Always strafe left and right, use that swiftness boon to get out of red circles. If something is shooting at you seek cover. Do whatever it takes to get by. After a while you will notice what works and what doesn't on a fight to fight basis and what your skills/traits do. Then it's all becoming a numbers game where you just have to control how many mobs you fight at any given time.

[Khisanth.2948]

> @"Biff.5312" said:

>

> > And yes, nobody likes Pocket Raptors, although I'm much less fussed by them than I used to be.

>

> I've never understood the hate for them myself. Never gave me any problems on any profession. Just use whatever aoe you've got and they pretty much insta-die.

>

 

Largely depends on weapon. If you are using anything with cleaving attacks they are irrelevant but stuff like ele scepter/mesmer gs/necro axe/basically anything that requires a selected target it gets annoying.

 

There is also the additional sloppy work by the devs where their visual size doesn't match their functional/mechanical size. There are also areas in the game where there are multiple stacks of them layered on top of each other but there is no way to tell until they move which means after you aggro them.

[Oglaf.1074]

> @"Steve The Cynic.3217" said:

> Many (most?) (all?) foes' indicators are their movements, so you have to watch the foe as well as the ground. They don't put little icons above their heads like in GW1, nor "cast bars" somewhere convenient like e.g. SWTOR. No, they *move* a particular way, and that means that they are going to do *that*, and there *isn't* a ground marker for it.

>

> My classic example is ordinary Ettins of the sort you find in e.g. Queensdale or Kessex Hills. They aren't the toughest of foes, but they *are* tougher than e.g. bandits or spiders or drakes. Anyway, they have a big cleaving knock-down attack that they do periodically, and they telegraph it with *that* movement. It means they are going to do their cleave-wth-knockdown covering about 180 degrees in front of them for two or three metres depth. Don't be there.

>

> But you have to watch the *Ettin*, not the ground at its feet, and for some foes, especially in nice friendly places like HoT maps, you have to watch the ground as well as the foe.

>

> And yes, nobody likes Pocket Raptors, although I'm much less fussed by them than I used to be.

>

> For reference, I'm 52, which many people have told me isn't *OLD*, but I'm not a teenager any more either.

 

Mounts help tremendously to mitigate the nonsense that is Pocket Raptors, I’ve found. :wink:

 

[perilisk.1874]

> @"Oglaf.1074" said:

> Mounts help tremendously to mitigate the nonsense that is Pocket Raptors, I’ve found. :wink:

 

Especially Raptors. I dunno if that counts as irony.

 

 

[Oglaf.1074]

> @"perilisk.1874" said:

> > @"Oglaf.1074" said:

> > Mounts help tremendously to mitigate the nonsense that is Pocket Raptors, I’ve found. :wink:

>

> Especially Raptors. I dunno if that counts as irony.

>

>

 

Nah man, pure logic:

 

Big dinosaur beats tiny dinosaur every time.

 

 

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

> @"Ojimaru.8970" said:

> > there's a mob in hot that shoots these brown spikes...I have no clue how to minimize the damage or get away from it. It tracks me, and will wipe out all my health if i aggro the mob.

>

> Bristlebacks attack primarily by launching their spikes at enemies. These spikes are considered projectiles, and are susceptible to effects that destroy projectiles (e.g. Guardian Shield of Absorption, Thief Smoke Screen), or reflect them (e.g. Mesmer's Feedback, Ranger's Whirling Defense). You can also attempt to interrupt the attacks of the larger Bristlebacks by applying crowd control effects to break their Defiance Bar, thereby giving you a five-second window to quickly kill them.

 

If you happen to play your Ranger as a druid, there is s staff skill (Sublime Conversion) that lets you create a wall that briefly turns all projectiles into healing instead of damage. You have to be pretty quick to get it in place before the scales hit, but if you do, that attack turns into a huge heal.

 

 

[Reverielle.3972]

Most enemies have two to three kinds of attacks on seemingly varying length cool downs. Of course this is not always the case, raptors for example have one kind of attack; they spread out around you and then charge in to bite at your heels as a group, then back out again and so on. As was spoken about above, the Forged Officers in the desert have four attacks; a charge, a frontal area bash, sword up calling fire-down from the sky, and frontal sword multiple swing attack.

 

It's a matter of learning those attacks by fighting them and then figuring out the appropriate counter for that attack that you feel works best for you. Thankfully almost all attacks from enemies in the game have specific animations, and most of the nastier attacks have warning animations to give you some time to react to them. It can be tricky at times to see just what's going on - especially when in a large fight with the light-show that is GW2 - but you can do yourself some favours in that regard; e.g. if you have floating names enabled, don't. There's enough cognitive clutter going on without us adding to it.

 

Now not all attacks are equal, you'll find you need to react to some whereas others you can take a hit from. This can be quite a personal thing and once again comes from practice. For example being ensnared by a mordrem husk - I feel with my limited condition cleansing - is basically a death sentence in the jungle when fighting many enemies, resultantly I keep a keen eye on any husks so that when they stamp their foot down sending roots out along the ground to snare us I'm ready to dodge/move.

 

Finally, keep in mind that the Heart of Thorns expansion is still (despite significant balancing over the years) largely group orientated content. This does not mean you cannot succeed there alone - in fact it can be extremely satisfying to do so against hordes of enemies - but it does mean that there is a certain threshold of competence required that is a bit of a step up from Central Tyria. We almost all went through it, and I'm sure with your attitude to learning and overcoming this problem you will in little time too. Good luck.

 

 

[Eramonster.2718]

There are indication and warning zone aoe (orange/red marked area). Some form of pattern that allows players to know whats coming. It will take time to build some experience. My rule of the thumb: The bigger and darker red the marked aoe is, the more lethal it is. Be prepared to dodge after noticing any glow or charging glow. Some the attack's indicator comes together with sound effects. Repeatative cycle etc. To put it bluntly; quirks to learn :tongue:.

 

Don't need to feel bad or afraid of dying while attempting something in game. Every player died at least once and/to learn something from it(part of the process :lol:). For group contents, you might want to do it together with people that are willing to teach(understanding and with patience while you're in the process of learning). Last and not least, ask in chat for advices if you're having a hard time :smile:.

 

[Steve The Cynic.3217]

> @"Aetatis.5418" said:

> - are you still double tapping w, a, s, d to dodge something? dont use double tap! use a key next to space (v by default; b, c, x as alternatives) - that way you are able to control the direction you want to dodge a lot easier.

 

I've (almost(1)) never had a problem with double-tap for dodge. Well, except when tweaking my position in a JP, when it mustmustmust be turned off. I guess I'm used to it now.

 

(1) Once in a while it will dodge to the rear even though I asked to dodge forward or left or right. When "to the rear" means "off a big cliff", that's a problem.

[rdfaye.4368]

I main ranger, and Hot taught me to love condi. Viper's gear is best, but it is harder to come by, so go for Dire or Carrion until you can get Viper's. I used sb and a/t to get through Hot, and use a pet with good damage, preferably with an aoe attack.

 

Just watch sb 3; it's an evade backwards and you can evade into another mob or... right off a cliff. ?

[jbrother.1340]

> @"taconight.3167" said:

> sometimes the ankle biting raptors in HoT will get me. Last night though was The path of fire story, i made it to the sacrifice and had some big transformer guy and the elite forged officers. I just couldn't survive, even running around everywhere.

 

If you know those little rat bastards are going to be close make sure to bring Molotov Cocktails with you aka: AOE.

 

If I am near HOT I always try and remember but sometimes they eat my eye balls.

[taconight.3167]

just wanted to say thanks to everyone for replying and helping. I am trying to focus on one class and learn the game a bit better. I switched to my guardian due to retaliation being a bit easier for me to understand and play with. Once i get a handle, i'll bounce back over to my daredevil/mesmer/soulbeast etc..

[AliamRationem.5172]

Things would be simple if every attack you're supposed to avoid were telegraphed by bright orange markings on the ground. But that isn't how it is most of the time. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon your perspective!), practice is the only way to improve.

 

There are a million nuances to combat players could share, but that post would be far too long to go through. So I'll start you off with a little advice about positioning. I expect this may give you some ideas on what to watch for as you set out to understand your enemies.

 

Example: Champion Arrowhead

 

Arrowheads are large dinosaurs that are fairly slow and predictable, but hit like a truck! They have 2 special moves: A stomp wave that radiates outward in a cone front and back dealing extreme damage (capable of 1-shot kill vs. glass builds) and a side-to-side roll which will knock you down, but doesn't deal as much damage as the stomp wave.

 

There is nothing to indicate that you can control this enemy's behavior, but you can! If you stand at the arrowhead's back leg and you're the only target present, he will opt to use the side-to-side roll. If, however, you attempt to fight this enemy from range (or worse melee while standing in front of him!), he's going to turn toward you and use that stomp wave. You can dodge it, of course, but if you fail you're likely going to eat dirt. Much safer to get in close and position yourself at that back leg to force the roll attack instead!

 

Many enemies change their behavior based upon the player's position this way, although it's often more intuitive (e.g. kiting melee enemies, using line of sight to foil ranged enemies, etc.). But understanding how to manipulate enemy AI combined with the knowledge to anticipate enemy moves will go a long way toward success. This, of course, takes practice. But be sure to keep an eye on how enemies change their behavior in reaction to what you do. It isn't always as simple as performing X attack every Y seconds!

[Zushada.6108]

One thing I didn't see mentioned in the comments was gear. When I bought HoT (I had played very casually since pre-launch but committed about a year after HoT), I took one of my characters right into the content and spent a LOT of time dead. Very painfully dead. Having played a more traditional MMO I immediately looked at my gear. For me I knew my skill was lacking but the death frustration was tipping me towards not playing anymore.

 

I highly recommend to anyone who is new/returning to not worry about meta builds out the gate. Instead, just survive. If you are going for a power build, get yourself a set of Soldiers or Marauder's gear and put the power Superior Runes of Strength or Superior Runes of the Scholar for your profession into that gear. We must remember the HoT maps were designed for groups or multiple people. They just aren't as busy as they once were. That said, if you go for Soldier's gear, the toughness helps mitigate some of the damage at the same time, you have a good starter/test gear set for WvW should you want to try it. The same is said for Marauders gear which is Berserker stats but with added Vitality. When I boosted my Rev to 80, I immediately flipped out the gifted Runes and put in Superior Runes of Strength and it worked really well until I learned and had the confidence in my skills to go full Berserker. Essentially, I looked at the WvW builds and modified it for my PVE/HoT experience. It honestly really helped me out a lot as I was learning.

 

Learning the enemy queues is a HUGE adjustment for those of us straight from WoW/SWTOR and in order to learn those queues, one must survive. So to me, surviving is half the battle so you at least have time to see what is coming at you and read the mechanics a bit rather than being one-shotted. Also, if you are playing Ranger, and have Druid trained, spec into Trappers Expertise (Skirmishing) and Lingering Light (Druid), and equip the following utilities: Healing Spring, Quickening Zephyr (especially if you have no mount), Stone Spirit, you can use Strength of the Pack as your Elite skill. If you are stationary in combat, you can also use Spirit of Nature. Finally, use your Celestial Avatar as it has a cleanse and a couple of pretty good heals. Long bow works great on those darn pocket raptors and if you can get the Jacaranda from PoF the AOE nuke the raptors pretty quick. I run sword/axe or axe/warhorn in open world and use Staff but do carry a LB and GS just in case as well.

 

If you need help, please don't hesitate to add me in game. Good Luck,