Convergences??

[Surelia.2651]

2 minutes ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

I have only got siege fireball on the end on my third convergence run. I have had my contribution listed as full bar 200% contribution, and the first attempt (failed) provided alot of essences from just that contribution window, and the two successful ones have provided less on the contribution window, but much more on the follow up bouncy chests (and after unpacking all of the containers)

I have done some rifts before, and didn't get enough essences to satisfy even one tier requirement for amalgamated essence, and after those three convergences in the span of two days, I have got enough of all essences for two amalgamated essences, falling narrowly short of to get third.

Now considering that the third run also gave me a coffer I was unable to open because it takes unstable motivation to do so, and the convergence freebie motivation is a weekly business, I am thinking that AN was intending us to run a mix of rifts and convergences for that obsydian armor (T2 and T3 rifts can drop more of those unstable motivations)

Hmm.  I see.  Thanks for sharing your experience.  I guess I will need to do more of them and see if there is an increase or not for me.  It was pretty surprising to me that the amounts I got were so pitiful.  I just hope this isn't a bug the same as what has been happening with the IN meta.

[Randulf.7614]

1 hour ago, TheNurgle.4825 said:

Did more runs today public and private without any leadership just "few ppl stay with Zolja" and it was easy 20 mins runs. Strange was that some ppl wrote that we are struggling, but Zolja never went below 75% HP. All runs I did was with full squads or really close to it.

Ppl do convergences as 10 man so not sure about better scalling. Also 2-3 ppl is enough to kill one champ.

Sometimes it depends which boss spawns. The wyvern has a tendency to move about a lot and a team positioned too close to Zojja (meaning he’s aggroed onto her instead of away) or with a lot of bad luck, can see the wyvern wipe her health very quickly. 
 

I don’t think the Knight is quite so problematic, but I’ve only seen him the once in 5 runs

[Sjentra.3409]

A lot of the rewards come from the repeatable achievements. So staying center is usually a good way to complete 3 of them every run.

[xersues.7189]

2 hours ago, TheNurgle.4825 said:

Did more runs today public and private without any leadership just "few ppl stay with Zolja" and it was easy 20 mins runs. Strange was that some ppl wrote that we are struggling, but Zolja never went below 75% HP. All runs I did was with full squads or really close to it.

Ppl do convergences as 10 man so not sure about better scalling. Also 2-3 ppl is enough to kill one champ.

That has not been the case out of 3 public runs with ~20-30 people in the mornings EST. The failure was 100% on the final legendary killing Zojia despite running essences to her. Coincidentally it was Sorrow all 3 times. The other areas were not a problem. I am echoing the same sentiment that another poster above mentioned about that legendary killing her quickly and spreading out the entire raid. Her health went down at an alarming rate and you can't really move that Wyvern around. Can't tell if that's a bug, luck, or something else. 

I have done this in private mode 5-6 times successfully. Every time it had over 40-50 people and was not an issue. I also call BS on "10 people do convergences" that isn't a premade configuration. It isn't a random small group that showed up.

Edited November 10, 2023 by xersues.7189

[BlueJin.4127]

Now that I had more time with convergences, I can go into a bit more detail on what I don't like about convergences (in addition to it dragging on longer than I'd like).

After all these years, I still find HoT metas fun. One of the reasons for this is because HoT metas have a lot of variety. All 4 HoT metas play very differently from each other with different mechanics/objectives. Not only that, each meta has different mechanics/objectives per side. AB meta has 4 sides, each side with different mechanics. Depending on what I feel like doing, I have 4 different mechanics to choose from. Same with TD. TD also has 4 lanes with 4 different mechanics, and I choose which mechanic I feel like doing. DS, again, has 3 different lanes, all with their own events.

A theme with SotO metas/rifts/convergences, is that too many things are just copied and pasted, with little variety.

Almost all the enemies we fight during rifts are the exact same enemies we fight during Skywatch meta, and the exact same enemies we fight during Amnytas meta, and the exact same enemies we fight during Inner Nayos meta, and the exact same enemies we fight in convergences... Oh, and let's not forget that the Kryptis are reskins of existing enemies from previous expansions. We could use a bigger variety of enemies.

For SotO metas/rifts/convergences, you have the same mechanics/objectives copied and pasted into each area. For rifts, all 3 tiers have the exact same designs. Skywatch meta has you doing similar essence gathering phase 3 times. When you start fighting the Kryptis on the floating islands, all 3 islands have the exact same objectives. For Amnytas meta, all the islands/areas repeat the exact same "beat on the large tentacle until the champion spawns, then kill the champion, then finish the big tentacle" objective. During convergences, all islands have the same "destroy the siege weapons and kill the champions" objective. More variance between islands/areas would have been nice.

Lastly, SotO metas/rifts/convergences go overboard with "mindlessly kill enemies that randomly spawn all over the place until the bar fills up" objective.

Considering we have to grind a LOT of SotO for Obsidian armors, we really need more variety in objectives. Only regular SotO events have a lot of variety, but they don't give essences and the rewards are subpar so there's little reason to repeat regular events once you have the necessary mastery points and achievement points.

EDIT: Sorrow definitely needs some adjustments. Sometimes, Zojja eats more damage than the healing essences can keep up with. We shouldn't have to waste 20+ minutes only to fail because of some RNG.

Edited November 12, 2023 by BlueJin.4127

[Ashen.2907]

25 minutes ago, BlueJin.4127 said:

Now that I had more time with convergences, I can go into a bit more detail on what I don't like about with convergences.

After all these years, I still find HoT metas fun. One of the reasons for this is because HoT metas have a lot of variety. All 4 HoT metas play very differently from each other with different mechanics/objectives. Not only that, each meta has different mechanics/objectives per side. AB meta has 4 sides, each side with different mechanics. Depending on what I feel like doing, I have 4 different mechanics to choose from. Same with TD. TD also has 4 lanes with 4 different mechanics, and I choose which mechanic I feel like doing. DS, again, has 3 different lanes, all with their own events.

A theme with SotO, is that too many things are just copied and pasted, with little variety.

Almost all the enemies I fight during rifts are the exact same enemies I fight during Skywatch meta, and the exact same enemies I fight during Amnytas meta, and the exact same enemies I fight during Inner Nayos meta, and the exact same enemies I fight in convergences... Oh, and let's not forget that the Kryptis are reskins of existing enemies from previous expansions.

For SotO metas/rifts/convergences, you have the same mechanics/objectives copied and pasted into each area. For rifts, all 3 tiers have the exact same designs. Skywatch meta has you doing similar essence gathering phase 3 times. When you start fighting the Kryptis, all 3 islands have the exact same objectives. For Amnytas meta, all the islands/areas repeat the exact same "beat on the large tentacle until the champion spawns, then kill the champion, then finish the big tentacle" objective. During convergences, all islands have the same "destroy the siege weapons and kill the champions" objective.

Lastly, too many SotO metas/rifts/convergences have "kill enemies that randomly spawn all over the place until the bar fills up" objective. Personally, I find it a lot more interesting when enemies spawn in waves, as it leads to a more tactical approach than if enemies were just randomly spawning all over the place.

Considering we have to grind a LOT of SotO for Obsidian armors, we really need more variety in objectives.

Well said.

[TheNurgle.4825]

15 hours ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Sometimes it depends which boss spawns. The wyvern has a tendency to move about a lot and a team positioned too close to Zojja (meaning he’s aggroed onto her instead of away) or with a lot of bad luck, can see the wyvern wipe her health very quickly. 
 

I don’t think the Knight is quite so problematic, but I’ve only seen him the once in 5 runs

Hmm. It is true that wyvern move few times and knight is more static. We will see.

15 hours ago, xersues.7189 said:

That has not been the case out of 3 public runs with ~20-30 people in the mornings EST. The failure was 100% on the final legendary killing Zojia despite running essences to her. Coincidentally it was Sorrow all 3 times. The other areas were not a problem. I am echoing the same sentiment that another poster above mentioned about that legendary killing her quickly and spreading out the entire raid. Her health went down at an alarming rate and you can't really move that Wyvern around. Can't tell if that's a bug, luck, or something else. 

I have done this in private mode 5-6 times successfully. Every time it had over 40-50 people and was not an issue. I also call BS on "10 people do convergences" that isn't a premade configuration. It isn't a random small group that showed up.

 

[Trejgon.9367]

So I did today my 4th convergece (running them all in public, first two ere on the same day, first one failes, second succeeded, first 3 were all against Sorrow), and this was also first one that spawned Demon Knight, the difference in difficulty between those two encounters is staggering. Sorrow is flat out brutal (and annoying to fight with all the launching and forced movement) while Demon Knight is a walk in a park in comparision.

That being said, I still have no idea how the participation chest is being calculated, the payout on the failed run, was much higher than the tiny bits I am getting from successful (now 3 runs).
The overal payouts are mind boggling tho, after those 4 convergences, I have got 2 purified kryptis essences, and just 31 short of 1st tier essences to craft another 3 - if my ectoplasm stockpile was capable of keeping up with it. This is going much faster then what people were estimating with rifts when it comes to scale of progress towards obsydian armor. For reference that is nearly all essences needed for full set of one stage of armor unlocks.

There are additional factors to bear in mind that are impacting that situation that needs bearing in mind: 1. I did not finish the new mastery yet, so in theory there is buff to payouts that I do not have yet, but also since I am starting from nothing, there is also a number of achievement payouts that are meddling with my experience, since once I get through all of them, the general payouts can and will probbably drop.

[Shadows Creed.3902]

Yeah did convergence. Feels rough when Public fails the way it consistently is it sounds  like

[Sjentra.3409]

7 hours ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

So I did today my 4th convergece (running them all in public, first two ere on the same day, first one failes, second succeeded, first 3 were all against Sorrow), and this was also first one that spawned Demon Knight, the difference in difficulty between those two encounters is staggering. Sorrow is flat out brutal (and annoying to fight with all the launching and forced movement) while Demon Knight is a walk in a park in comparision.

That being said, I still have no idea how the participation chest is being calculated, the payout on the failed run, was much higher than the tiny bits I am getting from successful (now 3 runs).
The overal payouts are mind boggling tho, after those 4 convergences, I have got 2 purified kryptis essences, and just 31 short of 1st tier essences to craft another 3 - if my ectoplasm stockpile was capable of keeping up with it. This is going much faster then what people were estimating with rifts when it comes to scale of progress towards obsydian armor. For reference that is nearly all essences needed for full set of one stage of armor unlocks.

There are additional factors to bear in mind that are impacting that situation that needs bearing in mind: 1. I did not finish the new mastery yet, so in theory there is buff to payouts that I do not have yet, but also since I am starting from nothing, there is also a number of achievement payouts that are meddling with my experience, since once I get through all of them, the general payouts can and will probbably drop.

Agreed: the knight's meteor's are pancakes compared to Sorrow's bounce house.

And if sorrow runs into the water it's basically a guaranteed loss since essences seem to stop dropping then. I don't remember if it was out of the water when it hit the next 10% mark or not but zojja was basically doa when she teleported to his next position.

[ShadowCatz.8437]

On 11/9/2023 at 2:58 PM, Jaken.6801 said:

It's a new portal in the wizard tower, one of the blue ones. You either need a squad, or wait for the public ones

So this is another version like Dragonstorm in Eye of The North?

[sciomachist.9630]

Sorrow v. Demon Knight difference in completion v. failure rate of the public instance should seriously be looked at. Demon Knight has 100% completion in my experience whereas Sorrow has 50+% failure rate. For the public instance to turn on a coin flip after spending 15-20 minutes inside is a serious flaw in the design. This is worse considering I've seen NUMEROUS people simply just afk-ing inside knowing that success rate comes down to whether or not you get Demon Knight.

If I see Sorrow, I'm tempted to just leave because you know you likely just wasted your time inside.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

Great content and what raids should have been in the beginning. The loot (for legendary and not other loot), difficulty, and fun with mount/mastery movement at it's peak.

My only criticism is the 3 hour timer for a 10 minute window for public is terrible. Anet is allergic to perfection after all.

[Luthan.5236]

Did 3 - always the last one daily the last 3 days. Before that I was still busy with story. Might take it slower not - only doing 3 per week for the weekly and to slowly progress the permanent achievement for AP a bit.

Yes: Staying in center will farm a lot of the achievements. Turrets and sieges take a bit more time. But with focusing on the sieges mainly (waiting mounted up to just go for them) those achievements should also be doable pretty fast.

Had the Sorrow 1st time. Both other ones the Demon Knight. Times were like 22, 26 and 22 minutes. So 20 mins probably safe to assume for a public squad without focus on maximizing dps ("50k dps min or kick" squads) and going for progress straight (splitting up equally on the islands).

After doing the main achievements I guess I will stay with the 3 convergences for the weekly + slowly progressing the permanent achievement (counting to 100 or so - 10 for the relic unlock). After that ... maybe 3 weeklies again. Or not doing them anymore. The Skyscale weapon box for 100 convergences does not seem to appealing - not making me want to grind specifically with aiming for that + completing the repeatable achievement lol. And essences are already gathering up from a ton of other sources. I need to craft 19 in the amalgamated thing now ... using like ectos in worth of 200+ gold to do that to clear up the inventory a bit. (Further use of essences really would be appreciated. Something to convert/buy without having to use ectos. To make a net profit out of them - even if only small. Gobbler/converter item might be nice.)

[Trejgon.9367]

5 hours ago, Luthan.5236 said:

After doing the main achievements I guess I will stay with the 3 convergences for the weekly

This part of the post have inspired me to actually go and check what is there in the convergences achievement tab, and indeed the general weekly achievement is only 3 convergences, but:

The achievements I saw regularly popping were not some one and done progression achievements I assumed they would be, but infinitelly repeatable achievements. Which means that this part of my previous post:
 

23 hours ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

but also since I am starting from nothing, there is also a number of achievement payouts that are meddling with my experience, since once I get through all of them, the general payouts can and will probbably drop.

is incorrect, Those achievement rewards that I am seeing impacting it most will not drop off.

Ontop of that there are some joicy stuff along the way of the 100 completions achievement, and completing it unlocks repeatable version that at least on a glance seems to have same layout of rewards.

In similar vein to Luthan going forward I will be probably doing 3 weekly convergences or at least trying to mantain that - considering 3h timer (I am really not a fan of that part, tho to be fair the "schedule" of big things in GW2 has been somewhat paining me for a while now), and I may start not simply not opening the extractions and the other essence dropping containers, due to aforementioned overload of my storage capacity on those essences, at least until I sort out my never ending ecto problem 🙂

[Ellie.2840]

I voted no - because it is SO frustrating to get Sorrow in a public instance.

You spend 20-30 minutes only to have it fail when Sorrow MOVES INTO THE WATER and the essences no longer drop that are needed to heal Zojja.

This seems like a design flaw. Can we get a post regarding when the problem will be addressed?

 

[Tuna Bandit.3786]

Can't really say Yes or No. I like the idea but one boss in particular (Sorrow) is a pain for me. 
Too much unvoluntairy movement that you cannot counter with stability which means that I have to regularly run away from the boss for a while to recover and not get motion sick.

It seems that Anet is moving more and more in a Direction that allows enemies to ignore stability and push, pull, lift or rotate you. Which is a direction I simply cannot stand due to above reason.

So for now... Convergence? Only if I can stomach it, most of the time I will run away often to counter Anet's urge to make their player puke over their keyboards.

[Jaradon.2756]

Voted no. Just spent 40mins on a fail because of slackers and afkers.  This mode needs very strickt afk kicks and i wouldn't say no to a regular dps check that also results in a kick if certain milestone is not kept up. If kick is too harsh then take away the rewards from these people that come to leech.

[Tiamat.8254]

There is a lot of pointless jumping around the map and the rewards do not make the effort worth it. 

[Benjialarue.3790]

I voted yes, I guess.
The rewards are fine but the event and Sorrow in particular needs some works.

In one instance, we cannot healed Zojja correctly because Sorrow was too close of the cliff and a lot of essence was lost.  He's clearly tougher to fight than the Knight for that. 😅(but not impossible to beat.😉)

[Kranlor Greyhelm.8417]

I've done enough of these now to be certain. This isn't very good content, and it won't keep people doing it.

The rewards for nearly half an hour of time are woeful if you don't want the essences. I've not added up the sprinkling of mats you tend to get from the chests, but if you break a single gold you've been lucky. The tiny chance of a rune of holding (I've not seen one yet) doesn't offset that.

It doesn't require any form or organisation, really. It would have been better if they'd stripped out the multiple layers of "kill this champion, then that champion, then this final champion" and replaced it with 4 generals that all need to die at the same time. While Zojja needs to be defended in the middle, and while she would die if the siege engines aren't dealt with. But chances are that would have been too much for a public event to cope with.

I'd trim it down somehow. Get it to a tight 15-20 minutes, make it more regular (every 3 hours is too long). Make it so the whole thing feels more frantic and threatening. Make it feel like a fight for your life and a race. If you need to tone down the essences for that, so be it. And have it so that it drops 1-4 runes of holding once a week, guaranteed. Solve the issue of their availability and give everyone (including those people that already have legendary armour) a reason for doing it.

As it stands I can see this dying pretty quickly. Especially if the experienced players start avoiding it, and the pugs start failing more regularly. I think we may already be starting to see that.

[Manasa Devi.7958]

I managed to perservere through these boring affairs and max out the AP on the repeatable achievements. Even got some runes of holding for my pains. But not being interested in the legendary armor, I'm pretty much done with this.

[genjonah.1253]

I’ll keep doing 3 a week until I have the armors, I find it much better than grinding rifts (and I didn’t mind the rifts) and that means every month I’d have enough for a piece of armor (after having taken care of the other armor sets, of course). Much less chance of a burnout and I do think the chaos is fun

[Taniniver BlindDragon.9503]

I'd been considering doing these enough times to get all the Skyscale Weapons when I thought it was 100 completions (including on the repeatable achievement) for one weapon box. 1600 completions is a hell of a lot of time though. I just noticed that the repeatable achievement though is 150 completions each time, not 100, meaning 2350 completions.

I know this is an MMO anet, but you are getting ridiculous with the amount of grind for things. I don't think I'll keep playing GW2 much longer.

[Ashen.2907]

Did my first convergence last night. Could have been enjoyable with less visual noise and without having my PoV auto-zoomed way out beyond my preference.