Hearts and Minds: What were you thinking?

I'm a casual player, so I suppose HoT storyline completion is not for me. I've tried Hearts and Minds several times solo and just now with a five-member group, and it's still proving tediously difficult to get past the first boss and there's two more to face after that? I don't have multiple hours to keep banging my head against this annoying joke. GW2 is a gorgeous game and there's many thing I like about it, but HoT content has been an increasingly sadistic experience. It's not fun at all.

@"Wyrd.1432" said:I'm a casual player, so I suppose HoT storyline completion is not for me. I've tried Hearts and Minds several times solo and just now with a five-member group, and it's still proving tediously difficult to get past the first boss and there's two more to face after that? I don't have multiple hours to keep banging my head against this annoying joke. GW2 is a gorgeous game and there's many thing I like about it, but HoT content has been an increasingly sadistic experience. It's not fun at all.

I suppose if you had trouble with a five-member group you tried the "Migraine" version, that's the hard version of the fight.

I am a casual player as well and I did the HoT story content alone. Maybe you should check your gear and your build if you can upgrade it.

Gamers in 1998: "The boss is super hard, does anyone have any good strategy to beat it?"Gamers in 2018: "The boss is super hard, so the developers are sadists"

@"maddoctor.2738" said:I suppose if you had trouble with a five-member group you tried the "Migraine" version, that's the hard version of the fight.

The more I think about it, this may have been the case since while I started the group in LFG, someone else in the party initiated the instance. However, I don't recall any indication that's what I was getting myself into.

@yoni.7015 said:I am a casual player as well and I did the HoT story content alone. Maybe you should check your gear and your build if you can upgrade it.

What was your profession, gear, and build that you, as an alleged casual player, were able to solo Hearts and Minds with?

@"mindcircus.1506" said:Gamers in 1998: "The boss is super hard, does anyone have any good strategy to beat it?"Gamers in 2018: "The boss is super hard, so the developers are sadists"

This is not a thread for the "muh challenge" crowd.

@Wyrd.1432 said:

@yoni.7015 said:I am a casual player as well and I did the HoT story content alone. Maybe you should check your gear and your build if you can upgrade it.

Might be helpful to post your setup first as he doesn't need help, you do.

@Wyrd.1432 said:

@yoni.7015 said:I am a casual player as well and I did the HoT story content alone. Maybe you should check your gear and your build if you can upgrade it.

I've done it with Mesmer and Revenant myself. Both with Ascended Berserker. Builds have changed with trait changes for sure, but basically a generic physical DPS build.

@Absconditus.6804 said:I've done it with Mesmer and Revenant myself. Both with Ascended Berserker. Builds have changed with trait changes for sure, but basically a generic physical DPS build.

My main that I'm attempting the instance with is a firebrand with an ascended weapon and jewelry but the rest exotics. Haven't had the time or resources to get a full set dedicated to any particular build as the ascendeds are random drops with some crafted depending on available recipes. Is this instance something I should just hold off on until I've progressed higher in fractals or can it be done with another profession? I found PoF was not exactly optimal with a guardian.

@Wyrd.1432 said:

@"mindcircus.1506" said:Gamers in 1998: "The boss is super hard, does anyone have any good strategy to beat it?"Gamers in 2018: "The boss is super hard, so the developers are sadists"

This is a public post in an open forum.

You will find a fair number of people who will argue against calling difficulty a design failure.

Better get used to that.

@Wyrd.1432 said:

@Absconditus.6804 said:I've done it with Mesmer and Revenant myself. Both with Ascended Berserker. Builds have changed with trait changes for sure, but basically a generic physical DPS build.

Ascended items makes minimal differences in terms of stats, that's not the reason. Post your setup and we can figure it out. You get a free ascended weapon of 5 choices after this with a miniquest so think of that as motivation.

PoF is easier than HoT overall, guardian is fine with PoF same as all other professions.

@Wyrd.1432 said:

@"maddoctor.2738" said:I suppose if you had trouble with a five-member group you tried the "Migraine" version, that's the hard version of the fight.

The first boss is very easy when doing the actual "story" instance, it has some tricky mechanics to break the bars, but nothing really hard. Meanwhile, in the hard version the first boss can be more challenging than Mordremoth itself, which is why I believe the person that started the instance started the Migraine version and not the normal story version. If you said you had trouble at Mordremoth then it could've been the story version, there are some tricky parts (mostly due to bugs btw) in that fight, but the pre-boss fights before Mordremoth aren't really hard in the story version.

For next time: choose Braham and Canach as your allies because their bosses are easier than Caithe's. You should go and re-try that instance (the proper story version) and come back tell us how it went :)

@mindcircus.1506 said:This is a public post in an open forum.

You will find a fair number of people who will argue against calling difficulty a design failure.

Better get used to that.

You weren't arguing. You were mocking. Just own it.

@Wyrd.1432 said:

@Absconditus.6804 said:I've done it with Mesmer and Revenant myself. Both with Ascended Berserker. Builds have changed with trait changes for sure, but basically a generic physical DPS build.

You can certainly do it with Exotics, 100%. As long as your exotics are not just a mix of different stats, maybe what you need to pull through is to incorporate some more survivability into the build through traits or weapon choices? Btw. if you're on EU servers, I don't mind trying to help you on my Rev and we can try to duo, just whisper me in-game on Enryon.

@Wyrd.1432 said:I found PoF was not exactly optimal with a guardian.

First, you don't need any kind of Ascended to finish the story instances.Second, did you finish Path of Fire? Including beating Balthazar? Because if you did finish Path of Fire on your Firebrand and have issues with pre-Mordremoth bosses in Hearts and Minds that means it was DEFINITELY Migraine version and not the normal one, as all those bosses are really easy compared to Balthazar (or the War Beast)

@Absconditus.6804 said:

You can certainly do it with Exotics, 100%. As long as your exotics are not just a mix of different stats, maybe what you need to pull through is to incorporate some more survivability into the build through traits or weapon choices? Btw. if you're on EU servers, I don't mind trying to help you on my Rev and we can try to duo, just whisper me in-game on Enryon.

I appreciate the offer but unfortunately I'm not on EU.

I recently in the past two months have returned to the game after several years absence and am trying to get into the more difficult content as I just did open world before coming back. PoF had some hard moments, particularly with Eater Of Souls, but was both challenging and enjoyable. HoT, not so much. Advice seems conflicting as if I go more DPS, I sacrifice durability which seems contrary to the constant damage being laid down by AOE spam that's frankly out of hand. Add that to the time and resources needed to put together good set of equipment seems daunting. Maybe I'm just trying to get through things too fast.

@maddoctor.2738 said:

First, you don't need any kind of Ascended to finish the story instances.Second, did you finish Path of Fire? Including beating Balthazar? Because if you did finish Path of Fire on your Firebrand and have issues with pre-Mordremoth bosses in Hearts and Minds that means it was DEFINITELY Migraine version and not the normal one, as all those bosses are really easy compared to Balthazar (or the War Beast)

Yeah, I finished PoF with no problem except for Eater Of Souls which I needed a guild mate to help with that due to the required stuns.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNArYWjM0QXN2WD+0A7NWoGs4Q4JMFOtyqAdApAwAYYB-jRRTwAHVCyV9HA7PcR5nP9BAA-eI did the instance solo on my necro with the build shown above.It´s entirely made to survive and do mechanics, in addition to consistent damage, which was my key to succeed in these boss-fights.Maybe you could figure something equal out yourself.

@Wyrd.1432 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

First, you don't need any kind of Ascended to finish the story instances.Second, did you finish Path of Fire? Including beating Balthazar? Because if you did finish Path of Fire on your Firebrand and have issues with pre-Mordremoth bosses in Hearts and Minds that means it was DEFINITELY Migraine version and not the normal one, as all those bosses are really easy compared to Balthazar (or the War Beast)

Then it's most obviously Migraine. Go try it again and this time proper story mode :) it's rather pointless to have a discussion about how hard that part is because that one is supposed to be hard.

As others have said, it sounds like you might have accidentally tried it on Extreme mode. Next time, make sure no one interacts with the Extreme Mote next to Trahearne.

@Wyrd.1432 said:

@"mindcircus.1506" said:Gamers in 1998: "The boss is super hard, does anyone have any good strategy to beat it?"Gamers in 2018: "The boss is super hard, so the developers are sadists"

Ask for tips nicely don't complain about subjective challenge. Gw2 is one of the easiest games aeound so it's obviously an issue with you not the developers.

@Einsof.1457 said:Ask for tips nicely don't complain about subjective challenge. Gw2 is one of the easiest games aeound so it's obviously an issue with you not the developers.

I'll treasure your input forever.

The only issue I had with the instance was having to redo all of it just because I got hit by a rock even though it missed me by a mile at the very last glider phase

Heart and Minds should have been a dungeon, not a story instance.