Dragon Pacifier: 6.6% according to GW2Efficiency

[Adzekul.3104]

According to GW2Efficiency, only 6.6% (23 657 out of 355 927) have completed the EoD Meta. This is tracked via the "Dragon Pacifier" achievement shown below:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/716733652666548279/952839204222677022/Capture1.PNG

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/716733652666548279/952839204524654592/Capture2.PNG

GW2Efficiency is only a subset of the GW2 population, but that number equates to 1/15 of the GW2Efficiency player base, and this post was made shortly before the 2 week "anniversary" of the EoD launch. In a day-and-a-half, they will add a method to get the turtle that by-passes this achievement.

 

And so I have given this some thought:

In Eod, we have finally seen Anet teaching players some of the game basics. We have reknown hearts in Seitung province dealing with breakbars, dodging, combo fields and jumping puzzles, but it feels to me that there is a critical basic that is missing: boons; how to use them, how to upkeep them, and why they matter. Surely this is how we skill-up the player base, right?

I have done the EoD meta about 4-6 times, failing each, and it appears to me that nobody brings the boons (or too few in the squad of random people). Instead of gating the turtle mount behind the EoD meta, maybe it should have been gated behind the folllowing 3 basics, that you can do with different characters (if you wish) across your account:

• Maintain 25 stacks of might for 10 minutes while doing damage
• Maintain alacrity for 10 minutes while doing damage
• Maintain quickness for 10 minutes while doing damage

There needs to be an unkillable mob/golem/training NPC that fights back about as fluffy as the renown heeart event in the training area of Seitung. You can do it on 1, 2, or 3 characters across your account, but you do not get access to the turtle until you complete all 3.

Then you can be certain people will know how to play the game.

2 cents respectfully submitted for community and Anet review.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Adzekul.3104

[DanAlcedo.3281]

I did the meta every day and people get better at it. 

Still only 1 win for me but currently the biggest problem is the total clusterduck that is the last phase. 

 

[Peterson.5172]

12 minutes ago, Adzekul.3104 said:

According to GW2Efficiency, only 6.6% (23 657 out of 355 927) have completed the EoD Meta. This is tracked via the "Dragon Pacifier" achievement shown below:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/716733652666548279/952839204222677022/Capture1.PNG

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/716733652666548279/952839204524654592/Capture2.PNG

if we are using gw2efficiency, it might be good to look at these as well:

only 13% finished the final story, so depending on how you look at it, 50% of those completed the meta, but we dont know in how many tries, could be 5, 10, 20 so on...

https://gw2efficiency.com/account/unlock-statistics?filter.search=the only one

the previous mission extraction point is about the same % https://gw2efficiency.com/account/unlock-statistics?filter.search=extraction point

 

and even if people skipped all the stories, only about 26% actually did the mission to get to Cantha

https://gw2efficiency.com/account/unlock-statistics?filter.search=old friends

 

again your average gw2efficiency using player will (probably) be better than your average player, dont know how much though

[Asum.4960]

10 minutes of consistent upkeep might be a bit much for tutorial purposes, especially considering not everybody has legendary gear to quickly swap to a setup among Celestial, Diviner or Ritualist for consistent uptimes and damage, but I do agree the game is desperately lacking something to impart the ludicrous power of boons (+ Vulnerability) on it's players. 

 

I can't count the amount of times I see supposedly great OW builds shared on this forum, and finding not a single at least semi consistent source of vital boons (primarily Might and Fury) or Vulnerability in them - with players often making the conscious choice to pick a 10% modifier or a Trait line granting them something along the lines of +200 Condition Damage/Power, over a Might generator (+750 Power and Condition Damage) and Fury (effectively +420 Precision) or Vulnerability (+25% Damage). 

 

I think the Seitung Tutorial Area is great, but something rather simple they could have added to it is another Arena with a fairly high health Golem and ticking damaging aura, that the player is asked to step into and fight twice. 

The first time the golem doesn't have any conditions on them and the player isn't granted any boons - upon failure or success, the guiding NPC then remarks about trying again, this time applying all boons to the player and conditions to the Golem to make the difference apparent, with the dialogue encouraging the player to find ways to incorporate these tools into their repertoire. 

Maybe even separating them into two different arenas, one for the damaging aura + defensive boons, one for the DPS Golem and offensive boons. 

 

Just showcasing to players how rapidly their health dwindles away while hitting like wet noodle in one instance, and being a sheer immortal killing machine in the next, should at least leave some impression about the value of these mechanics.

[Alcatraznc.3869]

1 hour ago, Adzekul.3104 said:

I have done the EoD meta about 4-6 times, failing each, and it appears to me that nobody brings the boons (or too few in the squad of random people). Instead of gating the turtle mount behind the EoD meta, maybe it should have been gated behind the folllowing 3 basics, that you can do with different characters (if you wish) across your account:

• Maintain 25 stacks of might for 10 minutes while doing damage
• Maintain alacrity for 10 minutes while doing damage
• Maintain quickness for 10 minutes while doing damage

 

Bad idea because it doesnt necessarily means you know what to do. Simple example :

 

Holosmith with Elixir branch, rune of strenght, any stats that has concentration can easily do and maintain 25 might while dealing damage. 

Mechanist with the rune of sanctuary, FT + Juggernaut + Alac on barrier can easily maintain alacrity while doing damage

Scrapper full gyro + Kinetic enhancement perk and all that stuff, can easily maintain quickness while dealing damage

 

But does that means the player behind knows how to play ? Not at all. By doing this player are just going to search for a way to fill those criteria and nothing else. They wont and will never understand why it is important, after all the game had 0 difficulty in OW since basically forever and suddenly EoD brings content that respects player's intelligence and assume you know all of that. 

 

A brutal way but that will work is to force player to do all of that in an OW event. For example an event where the boss has high resistance to damage but is weak to CC so you force player to bring CC instead of damage and once they break the bar, they get rewarded with a debuff that turn that high resistance into a high vulnerability until the breakbar is filled again.

 

Then next map, the OW meta this time the boss has no breakbar however it has a weak spot that increases damage, so this time instead of CC you bring more damage. Map goes like that and the end map (which would be like DE) you get a boss that combine everything you encountered before except this time it is you as a player to know which phase is a CC, which phase is a DPS and so on.

 

But at this point this is nothing but a dream.

[Labjax.2465]

Or maybe Anet should skill up in game design. That's what I think of when I read this patronizing stuff about skilling up the playerbase, as if less skilled players are little kids who need to be taught a lesson. GW2 combat is messy, to say the least of its problems. And I mean messy in any way you can imagine: visually noisy, literally noisy, mechanics everywhere and all over the place, too much happening all at the same too quickly. And you really expect people to maintain 25 stacks of boons. Many encounters in this game, you are trying to avoid being knocked back or stunned half the time. What game are you playing that you can just comfortably stand next to the boss and burn like in normal MMOs, where combat is not a lawn sprinkler spraying visual effects and mechanics everywhere.

How are people supposed to develop good habits for burn phases in raids when most of their experience in the game is being interrupted or having to dodge so they interrupt their attacks for 1 second instead of 4 from getting knocked down or knocked back or stunlocked.

I've been playing through the living story I'm not caught up on and you know how I feel most of the time on the bosses in them that feel like a raid dev made them? Not challenged, but tired. Tired with yet another CC mechanic I have to avoid. Tired with repeating the same slightly different phases over and over where the boss goes invulnerable because reasons. Aggressively tired of being blasted with a lightshow that would make a rave jealous and increasingly aggressively uninterested in going through it all again for the next episode. This might seem like it's irrelevant to this boss, but the point is that GW2 combat is more exhausting and overwhelming than it is challenging. It grinds you down with more things than a driver has to pay attention to until your reflexes slip just a tiny bit and then it punishes you for like 80% of your health bar because of that one slip-up and it gets away with it in open world because rezzing downed players is so easy. If not for that, idk how this game would have survived so long.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Labjax.2465

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I don't know how reliable gw2efficiency is for percentages.  I doubt all 300,000 accounts are active players.  Also, like myself, some players haven't even made it to the last map yet, haven't finished the story, just aren't in any rush.  Plus, all the laments on the forums have probably discouraged some from even trying this event.  I know it was a long time before I set foot in Orr way back when.

Maybe look at percentages 6 months or a year from now.  It might be more indicative.  🤷‍♀️

[kharmin.7683]

2 hours ago, Adzekul.3104 said:

According to GW2Efficiency, only 6.6% (23 657 out of 355 927) have completed the EoD Meta. This is tracked via the "Dragon Pacifier" achievement

 

How many accounts linked to GW2E have even attempted the meta?  How many have progressed the story to that point?  I know that I haven't, so is my account included in your argument?

This is why people really need to stop using GW2E as a basis for making their points.  GW2E is not a valid sample.

[Ashantara.8731]

40 minutes ago, Labjax.2465 said:

Or maybe Anet should skill up in game design. That's what I think of when I read this patronizing stuff about skilling up the playerbase, as if less skilled players are little kids who need to be taught a lesson. GW2 combat is messy, to say the least of its problems. And I mean messy in any way you can imagine: visually noisy, literally noisy, mechanics everywhere and all over the place, too much happening all at the same too quickly.

I find the DE meta rather easy to master in that regard compared to the AoE in the final story mission. Thank the Six for all the extra dodges you get as well as the Special Action key, if you want to do the no-downed state achievement. 😄

I generally agree on the visual noise in the game, but at least the clusterduck keeps your hand-eye coordination and your reflexes sharp. 😉

[Peterson.5172]

8 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

How many accounts linked to GW2E have even attempted the meta?  How many have progressed the story to that point?  I know that I haven't, so is my account included in your argument?

This is why people really need to stop using GW2E as a basis for making their points.  GW2E is not a valid sample.

i agree but until anet releases official numbers (probably never), it's the best we got

[Qpla.4729]

4 hours ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

I did the meta every day and people get better at it. 

Still only 1 win for me but currently the biggest problem is the total clusterduck that is the last phase. 

 

The last phase becomes much less of a clusterkitten if people killed off thornhearts and destroyed bubbles real quick. Takes like 5 seconds and massively increases group dps.

Was watching a stream the other day where the streamer with a ranged weapon just casually strolled past 10 bubbles floating around during the last phase.

[mythical.6315]

Something to note about gw2effciency is that it doesn’t account for players with multiple accounts nor does it account for players who no longer play the game anymore. 

[Fueki.4753]

The actual percentage likely is a lot lower, given that gw2efficiency's registered users generally are more efficient that the average playerbase. And instead of addressing this enormous failure rate, they simply add the egg to a vendor, similar to how FF14 does it with tokens against bad drop luck protection.

While this causes more people to get access to the turtle, it doesn't help the meta itself. Shaving off 10% to 15% of Soo-Won's HP might have been a better way. People generally aren't going to get better, so the meta should be adjusted.

[Alkariel.5670]

6.9% of Gw2 Completed the Meta as today...
8.8% Completed Map exploration in Dragons Ends.
13% Had completed EOD story.

7.5% Had Cantha Explorer
9.9% Completed Seitung Meta
8% Kaineng Meta
0.8% Completed Echovald Meta.... (This need to complete all phases) 

Numbers seems pretty close overall... i dont see a problem overall.  Even they are pretty good to be the expac only 2 weeks.. 
Perople are going to get better doing the Meta, rewards are gonna get buff, turtle is going to have an alternative path.