[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Coulter.2315 said:But managed to give enough information for you.. If you can manage it so can others and it is extremely condescending to cry out "These peasants are unable to conquer this fight, only I, the mighty, could prevail! Nerf it, lest they cry themselves to sleep over their inadequecies."

Other GW2 players are gamers too and should be extended the respect of believing in their ability to problem solve - or at least google. Games should push you and make you better, and this "push" is a break bar kitten, every djinn in the desert has one!

I discovered the trick by accident, because when I was playing it, the eater of souls leap was half a second long, meaning I didn't have much of an opportunity to even see the breakbar. After hopelessly fighting against it for 10 minutes, banging my head against a brick wall, I happened to cast a CC at the right time and broke the breakbar. This is not the first time I've expressed that in this thread, though it's become 10 pages long.

That's not good information. It's the very reason I got into this debate over multiple threads. It does seem I ran into some sort of bug, as someone posted a video of the length of time the eater of souls breakbar was actually up, which was objectively not the amount of time I experienced.

Thus, it's not condescending, because defeating a boss by mere chance does not make me a god amongst mortals. I have also, too many times, advocated for the breakbar to be extended, that was the only nerf I was asking for. It's been the only nerf I've ever asked for because, as I've mentioned multiple times in this thread and others, the mechanics of the fight are fine. The nerf then came, and other stuff was adjusted too.

However, advocating for people who have a hard time is not some "look at me, I managed but no one else can", it's me analytically thinking about the situation, realising some people may not be able to adjust, personally having a friend who has had difficulty with this fight and realising that things can be changed for the better to suit everyone.

Don't put words in my mouth, don't even try to imply that I'm being condescending for looking out for fellow gamers. The game itself does not provide a tutorial for some of the most important aspects of the game, one that was introduced in an expansion that the devs only talked about in news media but have never truly expressed within the terms of the game. I am speaking from some of my own habits and my own psychology when saying that a tutorial is a good idea (i've even said in this thread that I could benefit from a tutorial), I also realise other people could be like me and have the same issues as me and, more importantly, may have missed something I discovered by accident (though again, I should stress that what I played against does not seem representative of the pre nerf fight).

Asking for information to be explicitly mentioned in game is not being condescending in the slightest. I am not asking for a full screen "CC NOW" whenever a breakbar appears in game, I'm asking for an optional side tutorial that explains all the mechanics, something I myself could benefit from.

It absolutely annoys me to no end when people falsely suggest I'm condescending when I've objectively done no such thing.

[Getting to the Crystal Oasis without Story?]

@Tiny Doom.4380 said:

@castlemanic.3198 said:Wasn't there just a thread with this exact question?

You'll want to get an item called the spearmarshals plea, which you get naturally as a part of the griffon collections, so if you started that, you're in luck. It starts you in vabbi at the griffon roost so it's a little inconvenient, but at least you can hop on a griffon to get out of there if you dont own one yet. Works across all characters of all levels.

EDIT: didnt notice how old the thread was, so its understandable that no one knew about the spearmarshals plea. Hopefully thats common enough knowledge now.

Oh thanks for that! I was googling how to get to Crystal Desert without doing the story and it never occurred to me I have the means right to hand! I already repeated the first instance once and I'd be very happy never to see it again. Coming back up from Vabbi may not be ideal but it's a lot better than doing Chapter One over and over on every character.

Quick note on this, when you get to the path of fire maps for the first time via the spearmarshal's plea, you may find you have the very first waypoint unlocked, the waypoint that's right next to the entrance to the desolation. And if you enter the desolation from that waypoint, you may find that you have the waypoint that's right next to the elon riverlands, and the same in the elon riverlands as well.

That's what I discovered, so take a quick look, getting to the crystal oasis may be a lot simpler than it first seems.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Ardid.7203 said:Did this boss got nerfed? I did the mission for the first time yesterday, and it wasn't hard at all, and I killed it with a very basic strategy. That's why I ask.

I died twice, but I seriously could have made it without dying at all If I had grasped the basic mechanic before. With core engie, my solution was to kite with rifle AA until the white circle for the jumping attack (wich is followed by the soul eating thing) appeared in the ground. The moment I see that, I used Overcharged Shot on the guy, interrupting him. When you interrupt this specific attack, the boss is dazed for a quite long period, and you can burst him. Then you run again and repeat with another hard CC, or just avoid the next white circle and the soul sucking effect while your CC gets off cool-down.

The boss was indeed nerfed a while back. The mechanics didn't change (apart from stealing life from pets and minions), just the numbers (like how long the breakbar lasts for the leap and how much health the boss regained).

[Mounts unhealthy for core player experience ?]

@hellsqueen.3045 said:

@castlemanic.3198 said:I think it's hilarious how people are trying to justify saying mounts aren't an advantage. By the very definition of advantage, having a mount is having an advantage over those who don't. The ability to run past mobs you'd otherwise have to spend a non-trivial amount of energy dealing with or getting past is an advantage. Going to hard to reach places with ease via mounts are an advantage. Being able to reach an event faster than others, especially from halfway across the map, is an advantage. Mounts, in

every

definition of the word, are an advantage.

However, simply because mounts are objectively advantages, it does not mean they trivialize content. Nor, would I say, does it mean they put players without mounts at a disadvantage in most scenarios. Barring the overtuned engage abilities, I think it's unreasonable to say that mounts should entirely be removed from central tyria because they trivialize content or put other players at a disadvantage. There is a slight problem with players reaching places faster and preventing players from even getting event contribution, but that more has to do with the overtuned engage abilities than something in general about mounts. The problem of perhaps not getting event contribution has always existed from the beginning and is not something mount exclusive, nor do mounts overly exaggerate those concerns. There are perhaps some scenarios which mounts may prove overpowered, but i've yet to experience that myself. Once the mount engage skills in non-level 80 zones are nerfed, I think most of the complaints will go away. All the content is still doable, jumping puzzles remove the ability for mounts and gliders to be used and as a whole, mounts are unnecessary for successful world completion.

It may be an advantage but it is ever so slight in core tyria because THERE ARE THAT MANY WAY POINTS.

I don't think you read the entirety of my post.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Deihnyx.6318 said:I expressed that poorly, what I meant is once a proper tutorial is made, all the fights (story or not) following said tutorial will be expecting players to know what to do.

Yeah, I can get behind that.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Deihnyx.6318 said:I'm only gonna comment on that since I doubt we will ever agree on the rest.But that, yes. Let's make a deal, once (if) Anet ever make once that summarize all the core game mechanics (so CC, dodge, block, combo fields etc), let's NEVER talk about nerf of anything that's part of said tutorial.

As someone said earlier in this thread, an issue that I'm willing to accept is that a lot of these "fights" that teaches these mechanics are found in LS3... which is locked behind gems.

I don't think it's fair to say never nerf anything that's part of the tutorial. If you mean "never ask to remove those mechanics", sure i'll agree to that, but I think tweaking numbers should still be allowed (to an extent).

Also yeah, it's weird that the Aurene combo has NO introduction in path of fire, so people will inevitably get confused until they guess they should stand in the friendly blue circle. Also the hot key that pops up under certain circumstances too. It would definitely be strange from a players perspective who never played season 3, as well as other mechanics season 3 showcased.

EDIT: I felt like we were coming closer to an agreement on some stuff. Perhaps not total agreement, but at least a form of understanding.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Rhanoa.3960 said:Ok, I see how it is.

Your whole statement now shows that you are not willing to make any effort to take the time and learn.YOU and I are still given the same informative tools to execute in game content.We all started where you are at, we were not taught how the mechanics work, we had figured it out, and some folks have taken the time to write guides to help out folks like yourself.

Again, ignoring what is already available to you and myself.

So rather make any effort you would rather have someone else do all the homework for you.You are playing an MMO, you can't play it without internet access.

Break Bars

Please don't blame the connectivity, the lag, the game card, or PC. You and I are given the system requirements before purchasing the game.

This is not a toxic attitude as my original statement has just now been proven.

I beat the eater of souls pre nerf first try without dying, why are you giving me details on what breakbars are? And I said the game doesn't give you enough information. That information should be available in game. Why would you possibly have an issue with that? Having a tutorial explain basic game mechanics benefits everyone, meaning that more interesting and difficult mechanics can be implemented in the game, and we wouldn't have nearly as many "please nerf this" threads everywhere.

I don't get what your issue is. Why would you even assume i'm talking about my own personal experience? I'm asking for something that benefits everyone.

Truly, it really is highlighting how condescending you are being.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Coulter.2315 said:I am all for including break bar tutorials but it is ludicrous to ask a boss fight in the second expansion(!!) to not have a break bar mechanic until you get that tutorial. Keeping the entire production of content at nooby level for a 5 year old game is just insulting to everyone, it creates boring fights for veterans and makes newer players out to be idiots who cannot pick up new mechanics.

Fights with mechanics improve player skill and also check to see if you should be allowed to progress, you didn't get to kill Ganon without completing the Water Temple and you shouldn't be allowed to kill Balthazar without understanding what a break bar is.

Never said that the eater of souls shouldn't have a breakbar. In fact, i've stated multiple times throughout various threads that the only nerf needed was to extend the breakbar duration of the leap before the swirling lifesteal vortex to a few seconds, you wouldn't even have to change the health regen numbers. I understand the importance of having mechanically interesting fights, I agree with having mechanically interesting fights, all I thought was needed was to extend the breakbars. Preventing ranger pets from adding additional health regen was a good move too, since the devs shouldn't demand that rangers play soulbeast for a single fight, it's not that I think buildcraft isn't important, I just think with ranger pets you'd be limiting buildcraft for a single fight to extreme methods where other classes wouldn't be asked to do such. I could argue either way for minions being immune to the lifesteal health regen but I do lean slightly against giving minions immunity simply because minions aren't a core mechanic where ranger pets are, and thus different skills can be used in place of minions. I do agree that the nerf to the life regen was unnecessary.

EDIT: What I mean is, after a tutorial is introduced, we can then start asking devs for even more interesting fights, something that could then lead to eventual raid like mechanics in personal story missions a couple of expansions down the line. The devs have started to do this kind of stuff already with season 3, but they wouldn't have to be as restrained with it's implementation in the future because a tutorial would go a long way to help.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Rhanoa.3960 said:Video game is a lot like a recreational sport or hobby. Something fun as you learn the ins and out of, however, it doesn't mean you will excel like everyone else. You can teach or someone can learn how to cook, doesn't mean they will apply it. 3 of my previous partners would rather cut corners, in temp & in time when they cooked so they can have a quick meal that was either soggy, tough, or dried out.You are not, but some will, go to the gym and decide they want to join a pickup basketball and usually they are surrounded intermediate to advanced players(not including PROs), they are not going to take it easy on you just to make the game fair.I actually hear this a lot with yoga, as we have the weekend warriors who do not exercise regularly taking advance classes and hurting themselves, then complain that teacher was too hard.

There is so much information available on the internet compared to 1995 when I was in college.Just last weekend I learned how to cook the perfect velvety scrambled eggs and didn't even have to take a culinary class for it. I will never go back to cooking scrambled eggs the way I use to.

Given my awesome track record I don't expect you to understand. I gotta say, I am pretty Big in Europe!

How condescending.

It's not like a recreational sport, because while there is interaction with other players, communication with those players is not essential for the core aspects of the game. Without the requirement of communication to play through the game, it's then unreasonable to assume that a player will pick up all the ins and outs of the game. With cooking, you can try it out on your own, you can eventually learn what works and what doesn't, but sometimes you'll just adapt to your own tastes and figure out how some bits work. That doesn't mean you'll turn out a professional chef, and the vast majority of people don't. Giving classes at least puts the expectation that everyone is on the same level. If they then decide not to use their skills as taught, then the onus is on them. However, picking up a random group of strangers, tossing them into the ironchef competition and expecting them all to cook like master chefs is exactly as dumb as it sounds. Having a tutorial to explain the game mechanics at least puts the onus on the players to learn about the game mechanics using the tools available within the game, most players don't really look for outside help unless they are really dedicated to the game, but players should also not be required to look outside of the game to be taught how to play, nor should it fall on the players shoulders to learn basic mechanics of the game by asking from others. The game itself should teach how to play, and it's a major failing of this game to expect players, old and new, to simply know everything about the game. Breakbars for example are something that still have no tutorial to truly teach what they are and how to break them or deal with them in the game.

The game absolutely needs to make a tutorial in order to assume that everyone is on the same page. As it stands, various people don't understand various aspects of the game, another forum user didnt know how combos worked until last year, and they've been playing since vanilla. Combos. Let that sink in how terrible it is that there's no official tutorial that goes through the mechanics of the game in even the tiniest bit of depth.

We need an official in game tutorial. Once we have that, we can then start demanding more from the personal story and get more interesting fights.

[Mounts unhealthy for core player experience ?]

I think it's hilarious how people are trying to justify saying mounts aren't an advantage. By the very definition of advantage, having a mount is having an advantage over those who don't. The ability to run past mobs you'd otherwise have to spend a non-trivial amount of energy dealing with or getting past is an advantage. Going to hard to reach places with ease via mounts are an advantage. Being able to reach an event faster than others, especially from halfway across the map, is an advantage. Mounts, in every definition of the word, are an advantage.

However, simply because mounts are objectively advantages, it does not mean they trivialize content. Nor, would I say, does it mean they put players without mounts at a disadvantage in most scenarios. Barring the overtuned engage abilities, I think it's unreasonable to say that mounts should entirely be removed from central tyria because they trivialize content or put other players at a disadvantage. There is a slight problem with players reaching places faster and preventing players from even getting event contribution, but that more has to do with the overtuned engage abilities than something in general about mounts. The problem of perhaps not getting event contribution has always existed from the beginning and is not something mount exclusive, nor do mounts overly exaggerate those concerns. There are perhaps some scenarios which mounts may prove overpowered, but i've yet to experience that myself. Once the mount engage skills in non-level 80 zones are nerfed, I think most of the complaints will go away. All the content is still doable, jumping puzzles remove the ability for mounts and gliders to be used and as a whole, mounts are unnecessary for successful world completion.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@"Deihnyx.6318"

Maybe I just haven't read enough of this thread. We're on the 9th page about this topic, so I'll just take you at your word that there are people on this thread who refuse to work with the guides provided to them.

However, just because those people exist doesn't mean there aren't people who have done everything they could, including changing builds, and still can't beat the boss. At that point, it's not a learn to play issue, it's a game mechanics issue that needs to be resolved. By 'struggling with the boss', I mean unable to beat it. I also disagree that someone should take a week bashing their head against a wall until they come to the forums and ask for a nerf, you can pretty quickly figure if you're outmatched because of buildcraft or because the boss was overtuned, but that's pretty subjective and not everyone would have that ability to differentiate between the two.

I've become entirely cynical surrounding anything in gaming that has to do with two sides debating difficulty, because nearly 100% of the time, toxic elitists don't care to listen to the complaints of those who have difficulties, including the ones who've learned all the mechanics and still have issues, going so far as to insult, degrade and tear apart anyone who plays on an easier difficulty than "instant death" and go to extremes to annihilate anyone who even whispers anything about difficulty levels. Those responses have completely dulled my ability to take a look at "learn to play" in any way other than extremely toxic. "Learn to play", in and of itself, is not something objectionable, it's a hint that there's more to explore and possibly something you may have missed, but the standard use throughout the industry as a whole has turned it into a phrase that's become the staple of the worst of the worst in the industry. So forgive my hardline response, this is genuinely the first time ever i've had someone relay nuance about true learn to play issues instead of the extremely toxic "i did it, why can't you?" bs that just permeates everything, real life and video games included. Not everyone has the same capabilities, but you at least expect players to try (and change their build) and would listen if players still had difficulties after reading guides, which is a large step above the toxic wastelands that have appeared through other communities i've been a part of.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Rhanoa.3960 said:Maybe you're right, regarding the use of laziness was probably in poor taste.However, after review your statements it's obvious this is beyond L2P, which still doesn't change my position on penalizing other players.

There are some folks who just can't cook very well(I refuse to let my wife cook), not good teachers, not good leaders, not good drivers(curses at David Hasselhoff), I have folks who are not good at their jobs, we don't reward them and we don't penalize others either. When it's your wife, you have to tread carefully.

This is a video game, where the rules can and should be adapted to allow for the most people to have fun. Having a boss fight that is too hard for a playerbase who were never taught the full mechanics of the game is completely unfair and it should be adapted to allow for everyone to have fun and beat it. At the same time, the devs should work on a solution to teach players how to play the game. The example about cooking, then, doesn't match, because while some will never be good at cooking, some were never given the chance to learn how to cook, so why should they be penalized for not having the opportunity to learn and then thrust into a situation where it's cook or die (especially in a video game, which is about fun)? Why should players be penalized because the game never taught them the mechanics? How does that make sense?

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Deihnyx.6318 said:What do you say when people repetitively tell you "You shouldn't have to change your build in story mode"?

When have I ever said that? and I'd tell them that's unreasonable

What do you say when people's arguments all lead to the same conclusion that they haven't changed their build (ex: Minions healing, pet healing, no range etc)?

Have you even read any of my posts? Like any of them? I've specifically advocated for keeping the mechanics of the fight the same, including the amount the eater of souls heals, just to extend the breakbar, i've had this discussion with you specifically over and over again.

What do you say when a lot of people spend their time to post guides, only for them to be completely ignored?

I've tackled this before in another thread, but simply put, some people don't read guides. If the information isn't presented or isn't available in the game, they may simply struggle forever instead of looking online for help (or abandon the game completely). Solution? In game tutorial to teach them the mechanics of the game.

What is toxic to you is people who are calling out others not for having difficulties but for being too lazy to learn (making shortcuts here).

What's objectively toxic is not giving half a thought to the idea that there are those who have altered their builds and still have trouble with the fight. Those people exist, even if you intentionally forget about them or ignore them

What is toxic to me is people asking to make a game easier, a few days only after release of a game, ignoring help and guides and effectively leading to a game being made ridiculously easy, and not understand why they can't win some fights (oh the gator bounty) and again saying "it's too difficult", also leading to just as toxic behavior that is to lie on your actual skill level to join some groups (fractals, raids).

I don't get this argument, because the fact is most people who are interested in the expansion would play it at launch. When else OTHER than the moment you experience trouble would you try and discuss it? Why should someone wait two weeks/months to discuss the issue they are having right NOW? You're also conflating two issues, people lying about their skill level just to get into raids/fractals and people and people talking about how difficult a fight is. Those are not always the same people, there's an intersection to be sure, but not every single person who complains about difficult content also lies to get into more difficult content content.

You focus on toxicity as "People telling you to get better", I focus on toxicity as "what's in best interest of the game, what is going to get us the most interesting fights?"'

No, my focus on toxicity is those who choose to ignore, downgrade and insult everyone who doesn't play as good as them just to make themselves feel superior. I am NOT talking about people who refuse to change their builds, I am entirely talking about people who have done everything they can, including changing builds, and still have trouble with the mehcanics. By ignoring the fact that people have various skill levels and some will find content more difficult than others, you automatically show toxic attitude when you tell those people "git gud", "l2p" or any other obnoxious and idiotic term.

I don't consider it to be in the best interest of the game to promote behavior that would consist in never adapting builds, and I don't accept the "toxic" argument as a wildcard to constantly reject people who want to elevate the game to a certain level, especially not since we're at the second expansion and we STILL READ in this very thread quite a few people unwilling to adapt their build to a situation.

I agree with the initial argument, that the game should not promote behaviour that lets people never change their builds, however, asking for this one boss to remain unfairly difficult (yes, unfairly, objectively unfairly) is not the solution. The solution is to offer an in game tutorial that teaches mechanics, buildcraft and gear selection, it's NOT to offer difficult content and expect players who were never fully taught the mechanics of the game to learn the mechanics of the game in a single fight. This ties in with the guides issue, in that some people simply don't look outside of the game for information. On a design level, the game does not teach it's mechanics well and has no true method of teaching the players their mechanics, the descriptors underneath NPC do not substitute for an actual tutorial that fully goes into the depth of traits, gear selection, breakbars etc. I should not be asked to look outside of the game to learn how to play in it, especially if none of that material that's actually useful isn't developed by Anet (this btw is a different argument, one that doesn't touch difficult content, I'm talking the basics of the game, the game should teach the basics but it doesn't, raids and fractals are fine having online guides because you're supposed to learn the mechanics through trial and error).

The solution is to never stuff players into a cannon, fire them head first into a brick wall and expect them to pick up a helmet mid-flight, it's to show them what they'll be asked of and teach them about all the tools they have available to them. So a tutorial will 100% be more effective than throwing a tough enemy that requires adapting a build.

I get that some people will always be stubborn and never want to learn, but your focus is entirely on those people and not the people who have genuinely tried and had a difficult time, which according to your arguments, is impossible (fun fact: it's not impossible for someone to have adapted their build and still fail the fight). My entire focus is entirely on the people who have given it a fair shot (especially those who changed their builds) and still failed, and the toxic behaviour thrown at them.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Rhanoa.3960 said:The term I used is ADJUST: modify, adopt, fine tune your playstyle, the manner of which you play. This includes and not limited to your movement, weapons, armor, runes, & traits.

I addressed that. In the quote you have in your post.

Here it is again:

Even with a changed build, people can still have problems and it absolutely is toxic to dismiss those people out of hand, citing how "face rolly" it is to you. It's entirely toxic.

Even if you used the term adjust, you still, in the end, said this:

What is unfair are folks who think they have tried when they actually didn't. The fight was easy at first and a joke now.

Which is absolutely toxic, because it entirely dismisses the notion that people could have difficulty even when adjusting their build.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Rhanoa.3960 said:The toxic attitude/mindset would have been, if you had a Meter you would succesfully killed EOS in .08 secs. DPS is how everything is measured in game.

Adjusting your gameplay is hardly a toxic mindset, it's an option that is available to you and I. If you are not willing to take advantage of switching your build as needed then other players shouldn't be penalized for successfully completing it.

Many of have more than one toon and face rolling a pinata is hardly worth replaying. Replay value however is subjective.

The toxic mindset that I had mentioned is thinking that simply because you had no problems with it, other people shouldn't, not that the toxic mindset is "people should change their builds". It's clearly what I said, but for whatever reason you twisted my words. Here's my exact quote:

First of all, that's entirely not the case, just because you're good at something doesn't mean other people wouldn't have difficulties with it. Get out of the mindset that all players must play like you otherwise "they aren't trying". It is a toxic attitude and the entire gaming community at large needs to drop toxic attitudes such as this.

Nothing at all about calling on people to change their build, because your post wasn't entirely about asking people to change builds.

It's nothing more than a situational fight and you had to adjust your playstyle and this is far from being unfair. What is unfair are folks who think they have tried when they actually didn't. The fight was easy at first and a joke now. ANET didn't have to accomidate others when others should make their own accommodation.

The game does not penelize or punish you for adjusting your build as needed.

The highlighted part is the toxic attitude I was talking about. Even with a changed build, people can still have problems and it absolutely is toxic to dismiss those people out of hand, citing how "face rolly" it is to you. It's entirely toxic. The devs changing how long the breakbar lasts and having the eater of souls not snack on minions and pets is absolutely 100% the right move, lowering how much health was regained was not the right move. You also 'conveniently' missed the fact that the fight performed at different speeds, meaning that even if some people adjusted their build, had meta gear etc., the game could have bugged out making it much more difficult than the devs ever intended. As I said, I only have anecdote to go on at this point, my own personal experience of the eater of souls fight being exaggeratingly difficult vs someone else's recorded experience of a much more reasonably paced fight. I can't test this out as I have moved continents and changed computers, so I can't recreate the scenario as I first played it, but there is a huge difference between what I experienced and what I played with myself, pre-nerf.

[Getting to the Crystal Oasis without Story?]

Its account bound. Used it on my level 50 thief to fully test this out and it worked.

[Getting to the Crystal Oasis without Story?]

Wasn't there just a thread with this exact question?

You'll want to get an item called the spearmarshals plea, which you get naturally as a part of the griffon collections, so if you started that, you're in luck. It starts you in vabbi at the griffon roost so it's a little inconvenient, but at least you can hop on a griffon to get out of there if you dont own one yet. Works across all characters of all levels.

EDIT: didnt notice how old the thread was, so its understandable that no one knew about the spearmarshals plea. Hopefully thats common enough knowledge now.

["The Departed" has made me want to depart the game.]

@"Haishao

Thats actually a smart suggestion, since it would give story credit to everyone and leaves the fighting to the one who can beat it.

Never thought about it like that.

["The Departed" has made me want to depart the game.]

For the commenter and any future commenter who provides the tip of "just bring a friend" for the eater of souls fight: bringing a friend is useless because they get turned into useless spirits with useless skills and non of their classes abilities. In fact, it can actually be harmful because the eater of souls can just suck on their spirity goodness and regain even more health. Sure, it helps with the balthazar fight, but it makes the eater of souls tougher. So yeah, please stop uselessly suggesting to bring help for the eater of souls.

(if this was changed recently to turning everyone into ghostly versions of themselves with their full class abilities, then please correct me)

[Not enough easy accessible Mastery Points in New Expansion [Spoilers]]

With the raptor, you can get the mastery that's supposed to be for the skimmer in the south west of crystal oasis by mounting and dismounting as a higher jump. Did that day 1 so devs might have moved a few rocks since then to change it. You can also get the mastery point in the middle of the quicksand area if you have advanced gliding my jumping off of the northern most pyramid (I think I followed a dulfy video for both of these mastery points). I also did the sous-chef one, which I know a lot of people were having difficulty with, so if you havent gotten that one yet, it's worth a try. Can't think of any other mastery points you can mcguyver your way to.

[Night of fires (story mission) - some design issues]

I've had the issues of rytlock and canach pulling half the map (and alerting sentries, which spawns more enemies), that in no way is a learn to play issue.

Neither is having the first officer die and then having the bastion spawn, the bastion is only supposed to spawn after the last officer dies, meaning that is definitely a bug.

I've also had the issue of at least one mob being immune to everything, not running away and on top of that attacking me while regaining all of it's health and being immune to everything. There's definitely some bugs with this instance.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Rhanoa.3960 said:It's nothing more than a situational fight and you had to adjust your playstyle and this is far from being unfair. What is unfair are folks who think they have tried when they actually didn't. The fight was easy at first and a joke now. ANET didn't have to accomidate others when others should make their own accommodation.

The game does not penelize or punish you for adjusting your build as needed.

First of all, that's entirely not the case, just because you're good at something doesn't mean other people wouldn't have difficulties with it. Get out of the mindset that all players must play like you otherwise "they aren't trying". It is a toxic attitude and the entire gaming community at large needs to drop toxic attitudes such as this.

Secondly, it has become apparent (through my own personal experience etc.) that depending on the game connection and the type of computer played on, The very speed of the game can vary, meaning what's 2 seconds to one player is one second to another player in certain instances. I've been presented a video of a pre-nerf fight, where the eater of souls leap breakbar lats 1.42 seconds. The experience I had was a breakbar that flashed for less than a second, with a leap animation that seemed to have been sped up unnaturally. So there's more elements than simply 'experience' at play here. I only have anecdote to go on at the moment, especially because I no longer have access to the circumstances that I first played the instance in, but there is something that's not making sense about how the same instance can have wildly varying speeds depending on computer spec, ping and i'm sure other aspects. Some sort of experiment is required here, and I believe experimentation beyond simply using a vpn is necessary.

Not ready to file a bug report or anything of the like just yet, as I can't quite go back and forth across two continents to test this out, but it's something that I feel everyone should possibly be aware of, especially with regards to the eater of souls, as that has the most drama at the moment.

EDIT: grammar.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@castlemanic.3198 said:Have you tried it post nerf? It's much more reasonable now.

"Reasonable"? It's lame, and it's making me a bit angry that people rather have it that simple than learn to play their profession(s) properly. :(

P.S. It's not even the profession play, it's GW2's gameplay basics that seem to cause some people difficulty, which is completely beyond me.

It is reasonable now, because before the life steal would steal health from minions, pets, illusions etc. which you can't control directly. While minionmancer is simply one build, all non-soulbeast ranger builds have pets (and every pet is melee I think) and every mesmer build involves illusions and is more efficient with illusions, not only that, but shatters force illusions to run into melee of the target, so even if you're loaded out with greatsword or staff illusions, they'll still run face first into eater of souls which would steal their health.

Secondly, it's reasonable now because one of the key mechanics in preventing the eater of souls from life stealing was a half second leap with a breakbar on it that barely registers on the screen. That leap is now maybe 2 seconds long with the breakbar lasting 3, maybe 4. While three thousand people have mentioned simply running away and dodging, the eater of souls still does a pull that if you're not super far away or are using a mid ranged weapon, you get pulled into the area of effect for what will become the lifesteal. Not enough enemies really make being CCed super dangerous enough to warrant carrying a stunbreak or stability at all times so it's understandable that some people simply won't carry one. However the eater of souls does multiple pulls so even if you did have a stunbreak and used it, you could immediately be pulled again.

I don't agree with how much the lifesteal was reduced by, I think it would have worked better to keep the lifesteal amount high, but regardless that's the change now.

But yes, it went from being unfair to reasonable, because now it actually has room to let people learn the mechanics instead of banging their head against a wall about not even knowing that the leap can be interrupted, preventing the life steal from happening in the first place, and even if they messed up the life steal, their minions/pets/illusions etc. wouldn't superheal the eater of souls like it could previously. For those not using meta builds/gear or those new(er) to the game, it's now manageable and reasonable to ask them to tackle this boss. Just cause you run around super effective against everything doesn't mean every player is.

[Eater of Souls fight is too difficult.]

@Safire.1736 said:I think this fight should be changed for a couple of reasons.

1. By removing friends from the story by polymorphing them and preventing them from aiding you, it goes against the fundamental theme of the game, which is cooperative play. I only ever play with my spouse and best friends,m and in a long, epic story instance like this, it's frustrating when only one of us can do something. Friends need to be able to participate. When they can't it lessens the fun for everyone.
2. The Balthazaar fight was fun and epic and complex. This was punishing and simple. The former is a blast (literally), but the latter isn't fun on any level. At some point, all your gear breaks and the self-healing outweighs the damage you can do. In a fight where others can't participate, you shouldn't have to be super well geared to get past it, ESPECIALLY in the main story. Additionally, the story is decent, but the chapters should be broken up, because it drags. I don't have hours on end to dedicate to a single chapter of gameplay, and what little I can dedicate I want to spend with my friends. This fight is punishing, overly difficult, and plain not fun. I like the mechanics behind it, but some changes need to be made. Otherwise, I may just drop the story altogether, which is a tragedy, because I brag all over this game to people irl about the story and the gameplay and accessibility.In short, this fight goes against everything the game's story mode should be, and that's why I hate it.

Have you tried it post nerf? It's much more reasonable now.

[GW franchise could use a digital CCG]

@paShadoWn.5723 said:Anet already jumped on the f2p bandwagon and team for ccg would not take dev time from GW2 because as you said it would be it's own.And i presume Anet is rich enough now after PoF sales to afford it.

I don't understand the leap in logic here. GW2 is mostly unconventional because it didn't become free to play until the first expansion released, had a cash shop since release (when it was buy to play, not free to play), and has made it's cash shop mostly cosmetic, with some quality of life enhancers. So the unconventional route taken means that GW2 must suddenly jump on a ccg bandwagon?

And not only that, having a gw2 ccg have it's on development team by default means resources are taken away from GW2, because any devs working on the ccg could be devs working on GW2. We also have a real world case of the devs abandoning a side feature, polymock, in favour of the main game.

It's not about being able to afford it, it's about what makes the most sense to put resources into. With the recent shift in development focus from the devs to bring path of fire between season 3 and 4 within a very short interval of time means that things are going at a pace that shouldn't be shaken for the sake of a ccg that the devs don't really have enough experience to make, nor have the data to ensure that it's something popular enough to warrant development on. Besides, other games have already filled the niche and have most of the ccg audience taken, what would make GW2 so unique in what it offers that others havent innovated on already.

The biggest innovative shift was already made with hearthstone, in that it was completely online and as such has the freedom to make choice based cards and results that would be otherwise impossible in real world ccgs. The market has already been taken up, mostly by hearthstone but others have places too, so why would arenanet use up resources on a not sure market that already is being catered to by other products?