Level of Difficulty for Story Instances

Ok, I love the story in Guild Wars 2, but I am also handicapped and that handicap prevents me from enjoying the story in Path of Fire because there comes a point when the story difficulty out does even living world season 2. I would really like to see a variable difficulty for story instances introduced so those of us that can't keep up can enjoy the story. And no I don't want to be carried by other players through story content, I have to let people do that in real life enough already, literally sometimes. Also it would be awesome if that variable difficulty was retro active all the way back to the previous content and original GW2 core game. (yes variable difficulty is a thing in MMOs SWTOR does it) Again I love Guild Wars 2 story, this isn't me taking a shot at Arenanet, I am just asking as a fan that loves the characters and story of Guild Wars for some relief when it comes to difficulty. (Also sorry if this was the wrong forum to post in, many apologies if I posted in the wrong place) Have a good day all.

Makes sense. Implementation would probably be trivial. Something like set mobs hp/dmg to 1/2 for easy instance or hp/dmg* 4 for hard instance. And the story should be replayable so that I can choose easy the first time and maybe later do the hardest difficulty. This should not be limited to story tho, it could be applied to other instance game modes. In fact, difficulty levels are added to games for replayability.

I 100% agree. I feel like story mode should not be as difficult as they have been making it. I'm not doing the story for a challenge, I'm doing the story to enjoy the plot. And honestly? I haven't been able to enjoy the plot a whole lot since the game has me worrying more about an end fight after an hour long story session. Story should be accessible to all no matter how skilled. At this point in time it's definitely not.

Well you can always have up to 4 people join you in story mode. That will make it easy. And I agree their should be an easy mode option. But you should not get anything(rewards, drops, etc.) In easy mode. Since your there to enjoy the story, right.

I know how you feel. Story steps in this game are inconsistent. Some are simple and give you some plot. Others are do a lot of medium things, then do this hard thing, then immediately do this harder thing, oh, now do this INSANE thing, then that keeps going and you never really got much of a story in the step anyway because if it were the open world you would have just walked around everything and kept going.

I just did the penultimate step in act 1 (I forget what it is called). Starting with 'the sacrifice' I plan on doing things with a party, I am interested in the story, not showing I can single-handedly do a raid.

hmm.. fighting that justicar chick was bad. she was way to fast and kept knocking me down,couldnt even dodge... where is the fun in killing her by constant respawns? unbalanced too...

Come on please don't mock me, I am not kidding about the real life handicap. It was difficult enough for me to even post this subject on the forums, please don't troll me.

I would also prefer some sort of option to lessen what I would call "raid level" story instances or even skip the combat after having had to try it three times normally or something. I have a thief, and during the raid on Cadecuses' house, I could only shake my head at the sheer number of enemies in each section. A thief against all those? What dev thought that was a good idea? The NPC allies do very little to help, and a solo session should be solo level, not raid level.

Btw, I don't feel anyone here is mocking you at all. I think everyone agrees with you.

overall ( Chapter 13 ) the Story is easy.

@KeySpellsong.2569 said:Ok, I love the story in Guild Wars 2, but I am also handicapped and that handicap prevents me from enjoying the story in Path of Fire because there comes a point when the story difficulty out does even living world season 2. I would really like to see a variable difficulty for story instances introduced so those of us that can't keep up can enjoy the story. And no I don't want to be carried by other players through story content, I have to let people do that in real life enough already, literally sometimes. Also it would be awesome if that variable difficulty was retro active all the way back to the previous content and original GW2 core game. (yes variable difficulty is a thing in MMOs SWTOR does it) Again I love Guild Wars 2 story, this isn't me taking a shot at Arenanet, I am just asking as a fan that loves the characters and story of Guild Wars for some relief when it comes to difficulty. (Also sorry if this was the wrong forum to post in, many apologies if I posted in the wrong place) Have a good day all.

Unfortunately this game and community are really harsh against people like us. I'd be glad to join you if you need a helping hand.

I am not handicapped, but I'm an older player and I have to say that I started the story on my elementalist, then switched to my revenant, because the ele was unable to complete the story solo. My revenant has gotten to the eater of souls and is stuck there.Easy mode, PLEASE!

I'll throw in my support for this as well. Everyone should be able to enjoy the story.

@Disig.7169 said:I 100% agree. I feel like story mode should not be as difficult as they have been making it. I'm not doing the story for a challenge, I'm doing the story to enjoy the plot. And honestly? I haven't been able to enjoy the plot a whole lot since the game has me worrying more about an end fight after an hour long story session. Story should be accessible to all no matter how skilled. At this point in time it's definitely not.

This. Open world (generally) and story instances are not the place for super difficult content. Anet hasn't seemed to clue in that this is why most MMOs have a lot of dungeon/raid content - they act as a better framework for difficult content.

I've sort of felt the same way completing some of the story alone. It's not that challenging to me, but I've played with some people and...well, I can just say that I'm not surprised they're struggling. Idk if they're dealing with handicaps or not but they're definitely missing big cues and mechanics that I found super easy to figure out.

Story should be really accessible. And there should be more side-stories, dungeons and raids that are captivating yet still irrelevant to the main plot. I know it's not the most ideal solution for some people, but you can't have your cake and eat it too.

@Magnus Godrik.5841 said:Well you can always have up to 4 people join you in story mode. That will make it easy. And I agree their should be an easy mode option. But you should not get anything(rewards, drops, etc.) In easy mode. Since your there to enjoy the story, right.

Agreed. I would totally replay the story in easy mode just to see if there was anything I missed in the heat of battle (that I'll surely miss again, because heat of battle). You lose focus of some of the plot gems and hidden developments around you if you're constantly busy trying to kill things efficiently.

Hmm. I've always considered Story to be an effective means of teaching fresh players how to spot mechanics for Fractals or Raids (similar to dungeons). As such, I'd rather see this trend continue rather than have Dev time handfeeding them mobs. As such, I'd prefer Anet avoided any decision that could make bosses too easy, or afkable.

As a non-handicapped player, I found PoF just right - with some of my builds overperforming durring certain fights with very little effort.

@castlemanic.3198 said:I'll throw in my support for this as well. Everyone should be able to enjoy the story.

Pretty much my stance as well. I'd love to see Anet implement varying difficulty levels (even if it was 'Easy' 'Default' 'Hard/Challenge') to story content.

So far I managed to solo every story mission in the game besides Hearts&Minds but I totally support optional difficulty modes (easy, normal, hard). I'm one of those players who just want to relax in games, so I'd definitely play story on easy mode... If I want challenge, I log off and play real life. :astonished:

@dbarron.1604 said:I am not handicapped, but I'm an older player and I have to say that I started the story on my elementalist, then switched to my revenant, because the ele was unable to complete the story solo. My revenant has gotten to the eater of souls and is stuck there.Easy mode, PLEASE!

There are people who are in their 60s in the guild I am and they play T4 fractal regularly and had no problem doing PoF story.

@Haishao.6851 said:

@dbarron.1604 said:I am not handicapped, but I'm an older player and I have to say that I started the story on my elementalist, then switched to my revenant, because the ele was unable to complete the story solo. My revenant has gotten to the eater of souls and is stuck there.Easy mode, PLEASE!

I’d prefer stories to be easier. I’m not so young myself and while I can do most of them I’m not really enjoying it. They could always make a hard version with more rewards for those who want a challenge.

@"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:I’d prefer stories to be easier. I’m not so young myself and while I can do most of them I’m not really enjoying it. They could always make a hard version with more rewards for those who want a challenge.

And perhaps a title "GotGud among mere Scrublords" =)Just for the story, easy mode without much of a reward would be nice. Really didn't enjoy that fight versus the elite icebrood in Crack in the Ice.After hammering your head against them and especially against Caudecus in the next Episode, the last thing you care about is the story. Afterwards, you have to catch up with the story by reading the dialogues on the wiki.

I'd prefer Anet concentrated on making LS as accessible as possible. I don't think there is much value in making it faceroll. The personal story lost a great deal of immersion for me by being that, however, they do need to ensure a fine balance by not going overboard with mechanics . For example, whilst I liked most of the LS4 bosses, some of them were over the top with effects and mechanics that I can sympathise fully with those struggling to even see, let alone play against what is going on.

So easy yes, but not PS easy. They can then use achievements and challenge motes to help increase the difficulty for others. I'm surprised they haven't used the challenge mote route more to be honest.

Story mode should be easy by default with optional challenge mode for some achievements.Open world and story should be accessible to anyone no matter the build the run.

I also agree it would be nice to have easier options for the story. While I've completed most of the story solo, there were many parts I did not enjoy and resulted in lots of swearing/yelling. I feel like the pre-DLC story was done well. It seems like LS and DLC stories have large variance in their difficulty.