Jahroots.6791

The easy stuff's basically trivial, the hard stuff is a pain. Not enough of a middle ground, imo.

I can't speak to the original audience, but the core of this game's appeal was that you could basically just show up and play the content. In the early days dungeons and fractals offered more challenge than the open world for certain, but almost all of them could be pugged. The entry requirements were generally pretty low and you could just learn by doing with minimal instruction. They started making too much of the content unnecessarily complex post-HoT, in my opinion. And with every update the instanced content becomes tuned towards a higher base level of skill.

My issue with the dragons is that they exist on a scale that's just far too...grandiose for them to make realistic enemies. Even Balthazar was just too much, man.

I don't care about the dragons at all. Don't care for 'em. The only story villain I've liked thus far is Joko. But I voted for Jormag because we've been to the jungle, then desert and video game law dictates that a snow zone should follow. Plus, a Norn themed expansion would be cool. Always wanted the Norn cultural armours for my human and Sylvari characters, and I imagine an expansion based in the Shiverpeaks would scratch that itch.

I actually did get some decent training done in an organized guild, but the runs were rostered and I've always been a 'PUG stuff when I feel like it' kinda guy so it didn't work for me. Thanks for the suggestions though, when I run out of other content I might try again with one of these guilds.

If getting into training groups was as easy as making forum posts, this topic probably wouldn't exist.

Agreed. I can appreciate that raids need to be significantly harder than everything else. I'd propose a simple solution - add a raid equivalent of the mistlock singularities and fractal potions. Basically a set of training wheels to help ease people into raiding, as the learning curve is pretty steep. The mechanics, HP and damage remain the same but players would get one 'extra life', as well as a modest boost to help those who suck at rotations and avoiding damage. I think a reasonable cap for the DPS and damage reduction would be around 20 or 25% rather than the 15% we get in fractals. Utilizing these options would cost a bit of coin and raid currency, to be subtracted from the player's loot after beating the boss. Maybe also negate the possibility of earning titles, but other achievements and drops should remain unaffected.

It's definitely the difficulty that keeps people from taking part. You can't really view challenge and toxic behaviour separately because the attitude and elitism we associate with raiding are just natural, human responses to the 'risk' that the difficulty creates. Players are almost always relaxed and friendly when content is more manageable.

Come on, I feel like you know better than this. Anet wouldn't offer so many cosmetic options for everything if this was the case. Visuals play a tremendous part in most players' enjoyment of a game. Cosmetics are like the spices and seasonings that make a meal tasty. You might as well say a restaurant doesn't need to do anything other than cook their food because taste has no impact on the nutritional value, or whether you feel full afterwards. No idea what Gachapon is but a small part of me kind of would like to be able to just pay to become OP and coast my way through raids and stuff. *shrugs

I......don't see anything about skins in there. If you aren't playing Fashion Wars you're doing it wrong.