Guide to bubbles and whirlpools in DE Meta?

[blp.3489]

Can someone explain the bubbles and whirlpools in the DE Meta?  Is there a way to avoid getting caught in a bubble or whirlpool?  Should you try to get other players out of bubbles and whirlpools?  Should you avoid the heal skill in the whirlpools so you die faster and can get back faster?  Anything else useful to know about these mechanics?

[Quench.7091]

Players stuck within whirlpools can use EMPs while trapped. However, they don't even seem to try to free themselves, so I guess they're doomed. Sometimes it is worth trying to free them, but it requires a competent group. A whirlpool that is upon the coordinates of the boss will generally be freed by AoE attacks.

Bubbles seem easier to manage. They are worth engaging. Even if you don't pop them, it reduces the time it takes for the player inside the bubble to pop the one that they are within.

Edited April 2, 2022 by Quench.7091

[Kate.3679]

There is no way to avoid being caught if Soo Won marks you

[Khisanth.2948]

Whirlpools seem to be designed by someone who doesn't play GW2 and isn't even aware that event scaling exist so their breakbars are ridiculously huge. EMP + multiple CC skills barely scratched it. I did not try throwing rocks but it would be an equally ridiculous if that is what it took.

[Wintermute.5408]

Oh, so getting stunlocked for a minute is an intended design, and not my dumb kitten failing some mechanic? Good to know. Will go get some tea next time it happens.

[Slartibartfast.5416]

18 minutes ago, Wintermute.5408 said:

Oh, so getting stunlocked for a minute is an intended design, and not my dumb kitten failing some mechanic? Good to know. Will go get some tea next time it happens.

You only get stunlocked for a minute if you keep spamming 1 to heal yourself and prolong it. Don't.  That's a noob thing.  Just die as quickly as you can and use the jump platform on the airship to get back into the fight. That's the quickest way to get out of it.  Bubbles are easy for others to get you out of, whirlpools are not.  

[MonsterTeddy.6135]

They balanced the whirlpool defiance bar. It's much easier to break now if some squad members use their EMPs or AOE CC on them. It was a pretty good change. 

[Khisanth.2948]

20 minutes ago, MonsterTeddy.6135 said:

They balanced the whirlpool defiance bar. It's much easier to break now if some squad members use their EMPs or AOE CC on them. It was a pretty good change. 

When did that change happen? It was still the horrible version just a day or two ago.

[MonsterTeddy.6135]

8 minutes ago, Khisanth.2948 said:

When did that change happen? It was still the horrible version just a day or two ago.

Odd, it was on the 15th March patch. Either you encountered a bugged one, or not enough ppl CC'd it. From what I know, 10+ ppl passing by and using EMPs should be enough to break the bar on several whirlpools at once.

Before the 15th March patch, whirlpools were near-impossible to break. Most CC did ~2% (iirc) so it was better for ppl caught in it to just die inside it and waypoint back. 

 

[Tachenon.5270]

One of my guys got sucked into a whirlpool right before the successful conclusion of the event, and stayed there 10, maybe 15 seconds or so afterward before he was finally spat out, soggy and dead. That sure was fun! Thankfully some friendly co-participants rezzed him so he could join in the opening of the chests without further impediment. That whole time, though, I couldn't help but wonder what the heck the game designers were thinking with that.

Have they ever said what they meant for us to do? How they envisioned us dealing with people stuck in the bubbles and whirlpools, when every second not dealing with Soo-Won (or her tail, which is evidently an entirely separate entity with a life of its own) increases the chance of failure?

Ya know, I'd kinda like to see a video of a full squad of anet folks tackling DE (without the benefit of any dev-ine tools, of course) just to see how they'd go about it. That would be some next level communication! 😁

 

[Cuks.8241]

Whirlpools indeed are very annoying. Everyone should use aoe CC on them, emp naturally is great. Bubbles well those are quite easy. Yes offcourse you should try to get people out of them asap. They are in melee range at the start so really one aoe burst and they pop.

[Xerxez.7361]

5 hours ago, Khisanth.2948 said:

When did that change happen? It was still the horrible version just a day or two ago.

 

They changed it around a week ago. It takes around 5-6 EMPs to break, but if your in the middle of the platform it's likely you won't be freed. Before the update is took around 30+ EMPs and wasn't worth attempting to free players.

 

I always player Harbinger and drop Shroud 5, 4, & EMP on trapped players in range of me. (~750 Defiance Break)

 

If your group doesn't communicate that players can be freed from whirlpools most won't attempt to.

[Khisanth.2948]

45 minutes ago, Xerxez.7361 said:

I always player Harbinger and drop Shroud 5, 4, & EMP on trapped players in range of me. (~750 Defiance Break)

I used that exact thing ... barely did anything to the bar.

[fatihso.7258]

All is well in Tyria when everyone in squad spam EMP accordingly as they switch sides in the fight for the brethren in the bubbles and whirlpools. Refill and repeat as necessary without losing focus on fight.

[Ruisen.9471]

6 hours ago, Xerxez.7361 said:

 

If your group doesn't communicate that players can be freed from whirlpools most won't attempt to.

I think it'll be a week or two before people get the new info that whirlpools are now reasonably breakable.

[Donari.5237]

14 hours ago, blp.3489 said:

Can someone explain the bubbles and whirlpools in the DE Meta?  Is there a way to avoid getting caught in a bubble or whirlpool?  Should you try to get other players out of bubbles and whirlpools?  Should you avoid the heal skill in the whirlpools so you die faster and can get back faster?  Anything else useful to know about these mechanics?

I don't know how to avoid getting bubbled.  But for whirlpools they do actually have a circle that spawns first, and there's an npc voice line warning they are coming.  Our commander calls that out and tells us to "wiggle" by which she means strafe away from where we are standing.  I make a point of moving to a clear patch of floor so I can be sure there's no color disk under my feet (they are quite hard to see with all the combat effects happening, even with my camera zoomed way out).  I think I've been caught in one only once, and was probably briefly stunned by a mob at exactly the wrong moment.

She also calls for us to use EMP for our friends in the pools, and for ranged to snipe down the bubbles.  If you are stuck in a whirlpool it can be faster to die and use either your personal wp you put down before the fight or the airship wp then launch pad to return fast.  I'm not clear on that part since as I say I've only been in one once and I was broken out very fast.

And then there's whatever we did tonight -- it was our commander's 40th win, and dps was through the roof, and there was never a tail phase at all.  So, no bubbles.

[sergiomasako.2906]

Without help, you can't get out of the whirlpool. I just do nothing and die miserably. Great idea Anet...

[Xerxez.7361]

18 hours ago, Khisanth.2948 said:

I used that exact thing ... barely did anything to the bar.

 

Should be around 15~18% of the Defiance Bar. It's still a group effort to break the bars. Just not as ridiculous.

[Khisanth.2948]

6 minutes ago, Xerxez.7361 said:

 

Should be around 15~18% of the Defiance Bar. It's still a group effort to break the bars. Just not as ridiculous.

So 5 people need to stop and burn their cooldowns for one person. Having the person die and respawn still looks like a much more efficient and therefore better strategy.

[NumNums.7935]

On 4/2/2022 at 12:12 PM, Slartibartfast.5416 said:

You only get stunlocked for a minute if you keep spamming 1 to heal yourself and prolong it. Don't.  That's a noob thing.  Just die as quickly as you can and use the jump platform on the airship to get back into the fight. That's the quickest way to get out of it.  Bubbles are easy for others to get you out of, whirlpools are not.  

The fact that engaging with 1 instead of just letting yourself die is a "noob thing" is so kitten funny. It just shows that the game will still always be throw bodies at the boss until it dies instead of doing mechanics in the open world.

 

They should just change it.

[CaffeeCup.5742]

I headbutt the whirlpool. As a berserker, it made sense to me.