Queen Guantlet too hard? Why release impossible fights for festivals?

[Roy.5639]

Let me begin by saying that I have played this game since release. I consider myself a fairly experienced player. Now I don't like to brag, but I have the Dungeon Master title, and I have 80% map completion. However, I took a break from this game for a while, and I just came back. I know I missed some content, but I was ready to jump back in after my break. I was very excited to see that there was a festival that I had never taken part in before going on. Festival of the Four Winds, and the Queen's Guantlet. I decided to start by running around the Bazaar, which I must say, was beautifully made, you can tell a lot of hard work and dedication really went into it, and I had a ton of fun participating in the events there, especially the Doylak race. Gotta catch those pesky yaks!! Then a friend of mine, who has also played the game for several years, told me I needed to check out the Queen's Guantlet. I went over, and took part in something called a 'Boss Blitz', which I didn't really enjoy that much, because the bosses took too long to die, and there were too many other players cluttering up the screen. I prefer playing most encounters solo, because then I can really feel like its my POWERFUL level 80 dragon slaying character defeating foes! So I decided to try my hand at fighting in the Guantlet itself. I have a really strong mesmer build, that I love playing with, that absolutely destroys most enemies. A lot of people laugh at me because its core, but I don't like the new elite specs because I don't believe in mesmers having wells, and mirage is too confusing for me. So I stick with my core mesmer build, that deals out crazy damage. So I was pretty confident I could take on any of these bosses in the Queen's Guantlet. However, much to my dismay and utter disappointment, I found that many of the bosses were way too overtuned, and had a lot of abilities that I haven't seen from any other enemies before, which made it very hard to predict what they would do. After trying for many many many hours, I was finally able to get to the 2nd Tier of competitors. But this is where I drew the line. I couldn't get any of them under 90%, and I finally gave up. I hate to admit defeat, but there's just no way I can think of to beat these bosses. I don't understand why this sort of content would be introduced in a festival. Aren't festivals supposed for everyone? I thought the crazy hardcore insane impossible endgame encounters were designed for people who liked to raid (something I'll never understand btw), and that's where they should be kept. Ever since those raids got introduced, the game has changed, and in my opinion, for the worse. Before raids, you would never have seen something like this in festivals, which should just be for fun times. Please, consider toning down these fights to make them more enjoyable and accessible for everyone.

 

Thank you!

 

A loyal gamer.

[meatwad.3058]

Oh my, Doc Holiday I am so sorry to hear about this!

I read through your post and agree with absolutely everything you've said. I too have had many struggles with these bosses!

I think it is very clear that ArenaNat hates rangers! I know it is true!!!

They make the arena a closed space so it is impossible to stay at range!! Very obviously designed to make it harder for rangers, as if playing Ranger wasn't already hard enough!

I feel your pain Doc Holiday, I hope they take a look at these bs overpowered bosses and buff ranger :) especially the one that does not use elite specializations :)

[Cougre.6543]

Please add an option that makes the fights beatable for players that haven't optimized their builds to raid levels and do not use DPS meters...

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

If the forum is anything to go by, those bosses are easier than when first released...long before Raids.

Also, according to the forum, dungeons are quite easy, as well, as is any map in Core Tyria.

 

You may be in for a shock in the Heart of Maguuma, the Crystal Desert, or even The Silverwastes.

 

You may find tips for the Gauntlet Bosses in the Players Helping Players sub-forum.

 

Good luck.

[peiper.2195]

Doc, I feel you. I have struggled as you described, aswell. As a casual gamer, I dot have that much time to spend in the game, therefore I agree with your opinion.

Honestly, I do not understand why such hardcore content exists in a festival, which should be made for fun.

Perhaps legendary weapons deal more damage to those bosses, but alas I hear it takes about a year to make one, so not for me.

[Randulf.7614]

The bosses are designed to be challenging. The are meant to test your skills. As an average at best player, I think they are an outstanding design added to the festival given there are plenty of easy things to do for the exact same rewards. It took me multiple festivals to finally clear all but the Liadri orb achievement, which I may or mot not attempt this year.

 

The first boss alone is just a normal mob. The rest are just about mechanics. If you can adjust your playstyle and adapt and learn the encounters, then most will be straightforward.

 

They are nowhere near the high end of the skill ladder, but I don't understand why people who want to test their skill shouldn't have something for them. The Gauntlet has largely been praised and welcomed over the years and the feeling of accomplishment in beating Liadri has been one of the top memorable moments for many a player.

 

I don't raid and I'm not really an elite player, a meta player or the such. And yeah I got largely pissed off when I was doing them back in the day. But, coming to the forums and asking for a nerf in a popular and successful piece of content which is as designed, is never going to happen since none of them are overtuned. Not a single one.

[Dante.1763]

...i remember the first this came out, years ago, and i spent days trying to beat Liadra(spelling) because she was to hard..I really hope this is sarcasm, but i have a feeling its not.

[nosleepdemon.1368]

Oh please there was plenty of challenging content before raids came out that required skill to complete. I find most of the content too easy tbh, SAB tribulation mode was a decent challenge that I actually felt gave me a reward not many people have (motos red/blue infusions, not the weapons, which are common as muck). I don't raid either - I don't have the time, but I rather lament the dumbing down of content to suit "casual" players who use that word as an excuse. If all else fails, one can probably watch a video on how to do Queen's Gauntlet. I think I might give it a go tonight, I reckon I have half an hour to spare which ought to be enough.

[Shaddy Bear.3096]

> @"Dante.1763" said:

> ...i remember the first this came out, years ago, and i spent days trying to beat Liadra(spelling) because she was to hard..I really hope this is sarcasm, but i have a feeling its not.

 

have you tried turai osira yet, he hacls.

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

this is some kind of joke, isnt it? I mean... dungeon master? 80% map?

 

But there is a simple question: do you have to fight the bosses? No? well, why do you care about how hard they are?

[Randulf.7614]

> @"Doc Holiday.1326" said:

> Before raids, you would never have seen something like this in festivals

 

 

FYI also, these bosses pre-date raids. They first appeared in the festival 1 year after launch in August 2013

[Metasynaptic.1093]

I beat it first time around on my trash geared shout warrior. No ascended gear. No meters. Just practise.

[AgentMoore.9453]

It's true that you don't _have_ to complete these bosses, but it's also true that they have an elevated difficulty and that it's not fun to lose over and over during a limited time festival. People feel this way about the clock tower jumping puzzle as well, and though I have learned to complete both types of content, I can see how they might frustrate or discourage someone playing for casual fun or with limited time.

 

The answer to this probably shouldn't be to just make them easier. Perhaps they could introduce some type of forgiving mode for these enemies to help people learn their attacks and habits, but you would also have to remove/reduce the rewards in the name of fairness - maybe some tokens instead of any AP or titles. For what it's worth, I feel the same way about raids. Easier modes with reduced rewards allow people to "train up" while still leaving the normal mode as the most lucrative/efficient mode to play.

 

This all assumes ArenaNet is even open to making changes. They may be perfectly happy with things as they are currently.

[aetemes.2603]

You don't need to do gauntlet at all you miss out on a lame pet...achievment points..."kingslayer" title...if you can't live without having that stuff then why are you not attempting to raid exactly? There's always try hard mode for festivals that gives you a few achievment points I usually don't bother with.

 

I don't raid or use dps meters. Here's my tips. Incase this isn't a troll thread and I missed it.

 

First of all...they are all ccable except turai I'll get to in a minute. What that means...they can be stunned blinded chilled crippled weakened knocked down feared dazed pulled...This is huge and - people solo champs where you can't really do any of that. I listed this because you have to look at your kit and use these abilities.

 

This is timed going minstrel or an 'outlasting' strategy is not a good idea...at all. Your defense has to be cc aegis dodges kiting traits..certain utility etc. Also helps to figure out what is your "op" best burst options. Unload that kite cc stall till you unload it again if the first unload wasn't enough, adjust depending on what is the problem. Stuns? Ranged? etc.

 

You do need max level gear and settings on your clas I thinks...full coherent exotic gear and trinkets. Now...OP specifically...you say you have a mesmer build...what is it? Mesmer can make all these bosses a joke it's exactly what I used with liadry cause I like cheese I am no try hard.

 

The main "scary" one is turai cause he starts out being very spammy non ccable and even if you are full on defense gear he owns you and he keeps doing that for a while. That one I had to get on my daredevil to just spam dodges blinks away till he gets a defiance bar and then just go ahead and cc him while dpsing him once again.

 

For now...again...what is your mesmer build?

[Zaklex.6308]

> @"Doc Holiday.1326" said:

> Let me begin by saying that I have played this game since release. I consider myself a fairly experienced player. Now I don't like to brag, but I have the Dungeon Master title, and I have 80% map completion. However, I took a break from this game for a while, and I just came back. I know I missed some content, but I was ready to jump back in after my break. I was very excited to see that there was a festival that I had never taken part in before going on. Festival of the Four Winds, and the Queen's Guantlet. I decided to start by running around the Bazaar, which I must say, was beautifully made, you can tell a lot of hard work and dedication really went into it, and I had a ton of fun participating in the events there, especially the Doylak race. Gotta catch those pesky yaks!! Then a friend of mine, who has also played the game for several years, told me I needed to check out the Queen's Guantlet. I went over, and took part in something called a 'Boss Blitz', which I didn't really enjoy that much, because the bosses took too long to die, and there were too many other players cluttering up the screen. I prefer playing most encounters solo, because then I can really feel like its my POWERFUL level 80 dragon slaying character defeating foes! So I decided to try my hand at fighting in the Guantlet itself. I have a really strong mesmer build, that I love playing with, that absolutely destroys most enemies. A lot of people laugh at me because its core, but I don't like the new elite specs because I don't believe in mesmers having wells, and mirage is too confusing for me. So I stick with my core mesmer build, that deals out crazy damage. So I was pretty confident I could take on any of these bosses in the Queen's Guantlet. However, much to my dismay and utter disappointment, I found that many of the bosses were way too overtuned, and had a lot of abilities that I haven't seen from any other enemies before, which made it very hard to predict what they would do. After trying for many many many hours, I was finally able to get to the 2nd Tier of competitors. But this is where I drew the line. I couldn't get any of them under 90%, and I finally gave up. I hate to admit defeat, but there's just no way I can think of to beat these bosses. I don't understand why this sort of content would be introduced in a festival. Aren't festivals supposed for everyone? I thought the crazy hardcore insane impossible endgame encounters were designed for people who liked to raid (something I'll never understand btw), and that's where they should be kept. Ever since those raids got introduced, the game has changed, and in my opinion, for the worse. Before raids, you would never have seen something like this in festivals, which should just be for fun times. Please, consider toning down these fights to make them more enjoyable and accessible for everyone.

>

> Thank you!

>

> A loyal gamer.

 

The Queen's Guantlet was originally introduced in August of 2013, just around the one year anniversary of the game. It was introduced specifically to give some challenging content to players at the time, and as others have stated the bosses where harder when originally released. The festival itself can be enjoyed by all players, but that doesn't mean that all aspects of the festival are things that can be done by all players. Personally I know fully well that I won't even try the Gauntlet because for one it's not something I like to do, and two, I'm just not interested in it. The Boss Blitz I did, but only because that's where you get a Favor of the Pavilion that you combine with a Favor of the Bazaar to make a Favor of the Festival.

 

To say this kind of content didn't exist before Raids got introduced is not true as this event itself was introduced way back in 2013, long before the first Raid was ever added to GW2. It's just not your cup of tea.

 

 

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Doc Holiday.1326" said:

> I have a ... mesmer build, that ... its core... I found that many of the bosses were way too overtuned,

That's interesting because (a) the bosses were tuned for the core game originally and non-optimized players managed to beat them, when (b) one of the go-to builds was mesmer.

 

> I hate to admit defeat, but there's just no way I can think of to beat these bosses.

Why not ask for help? Or even just search the forums or google for help? There are plenty of people who will walk you through what needs to be done (if you aren't keen on reading about it).

 

> Aren't festivals supposed for everyone?

Yes, which is why there are some challenging and completely optional bosses to fight: for those that like a challenge.

 

> I thought the crazy hardcore insane impossible endgame encounters were designed for people who liked to raid

This might be true. However, these gauntlet bosses aren't like that:

* Each has a super-power (or more) that can be avoided; learn the patterns and tells and the content becomes a lot easier.

* Each has a kind of kryptonite or vulnerability; learn to take advantage of those and the content becomes a lot easier.

 

Generically: blocks, blinds, stuns are incredibly helpful to deny the foes a chance to touch you at all.

 

> Ever since those raids got introduced, the game has changed,

Again, _this_ content was introduced _before_ raids; only the new tier was released after raids.

 

> you would never have seen something like this in festivals,

In fact (and to repeat): we did literally see exactly this content, before raids, in one of the earliest festivals.

 

_edit: a new tier, not just a new boss; thanks to @"Randulf.7614" for the correction._

[starhunter.6015]

Hell I have beat them all up to Liadra on my Ranger... then with my Reaper and Chrono.... I just suck at dealing with Liadra or how ever you spell her name. But one year I will beat her senseless..

[Aaralyna.3104]

I would actually opt the gauntlet is fine. I beat them bosses with core builds (and I never set foot in a raid, wintersday one apart). No I did not manage to kill Liadri nor Turai but I have all the others. Try, retry, practice, watch some vids. I found Mordremoth nm harder. There is nothing wrong with some challenge, it comes down from learning tactics and to know your class and what it can do and ofcourse what bosses do. Make sure you move around, attack a boss from behind, watch what happens in the field around you, etc. Start without having gambits on you and from there scale up. Liadri and Turai are completely optional. Just like top 100 ranked pvp is optional (they give titles), raids are optional (they give titles and ascended/legendary gears), etc. I did it last year on a core mesmer and a staff elementalist and this year I did some for dailies on condi rev and chrono (read mesmer with 2 wells). I like they add more challenging content in the game since I could even afk for dinner in HoT story and the npcs would seriously complete the whole mission on their own... And ofcourse pressing just 1 skill and almost "afk" ain't fun either.

[Blocki.4931]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having challenge in the game. If you have trouble, look up a guide or change your build/class. Some things simply ARE easier by playing optimized or well in general, because that's the entire point.

[Moonjelly.3742]

> @"Doc Holiday.1326" said:Please, consider toning down these fights to make them more enjoyable and accessible for everyone.

>

> Thank you!

>

> A loyal gamer.

 

Have you spent some time looking up how to deal with these bosses on youtube? These are not meant to be just tank and spank. The special bosses are also meant to be even harder, and they aren't supposed to be facerolled. This is about the only thing that has a difficulty curve in this game outside of raids and high level fractals, that an tribulation mode for SAB. I'm not an elite player, I don't raid, and am pretty average overall. It took me several years to beat Turai, which I finally did this year after approx 27 tries. Liadri I did last year after so many tries I lost count. It doesn't need to be easier. The issue seems to be people aren't willing to invest some time learning the mechanics.

[Randulf.7614]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"Doc Holiday.1326" said:

>> ever since those raids got introduced, the game has changed,

> Again, _this_ content (save for one new boss) was introduced _before_ raids.

 

Save for 5 bosses - the entire special tier was new last year

[Westenev.5289]

I don't think queens gauntlet was content you are supposed to defeat one after the other for self-gratification. It's a game mode where you're meant to keep banging your head against a wall until either you or the wall gives up.

 

I personally recommend this build, which I've been trying for just about a week.

 

 

It struggles in some fights due to the lack of dodge movement (Think Lidri the concealing darkness), but it's really durable!

[Chilli.2976]

Check this thread out: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/83693/post-your-queens-gauntlet-builds#latest we discuss builds specifically for QG.

[Ultramex.1506]

Too hard? Only the Special are and i love to see your reaction when you get to them. Obviously you need training so just keep fighting them, and learn their ability, check wiki about them. They won't tone down the bosses, and i prefer it that way

Although i wish they put a counter on that darkness lady, hard to keep track when you need to dodge her shadows/vortex orb/AoE attack

[Tiviana.2650]

Im really confused here. Are we expected to solo these bosses? Because i pretty much thought this was group content. But from the tone of the op's post it sounds like he was trying to solo them? You cant solo them,they are for good sized groups , hence why they have large health pools, side mechanics you deal with, and can do a good chunk of damage.

 

 

> @"Ultramex.1506" said:

> Too hard? Only the Special are and i love to see your reaction when you get to them. Obviously you need training so just keep fighting them, and learn their ability, check wiki about them. They won't tone down the bosses, and i prefer it that way

> Although i wish they put a counter on that darkness lady, hard to keep track when you need to dodge her shadows/vortex orb/AoE attack

 

Hint...Turn off post processing