Don't like the POF expansion area's very much.

[brgmns.9235]

@psyt.9415 said:For me in hindsight HoT was one of the greatest and most creative expacs in MMO gaming. At the time I didnt like it because you basically needed your elite spec on some classes just to survive and so half the game was pain just getting it unlocked until HP trains started up and it was a bit hard to get around. In todays game with everyone rolling with powercreeped specs already the difficulty is fine and with the mounts the layered maps are a blast. I hope the new expac is more like HoT but with out the initial power creeped difficulty spike.

Problem is when new players come and don’t have Elite spec maxed, don’t have all the mounts, and have no idea what “powercreeped” specs are.

IMO this is the difference in Vets saying the game isn’t hardcore vs others saying it is. When I joint a good raiding guild with support at anytime and the best gear in EQ the gamewasn’t hard at all for me. That said the game itself for 90% of the base was extremely hardcore. It was only made not that to me based on the time I’d spent in game working to end game. Clearly some people forget the experience of when they just started. Not saying you, as you said how it’s was a struggle when you first ran through say HoT.

[Maikimaik.1974]

@Joote.4081 said:

@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@battledrone.8315 said:

@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@battledrone.8315 said:

@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@battledrone.8315 said:

@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@battledrone.8315 said:

@Sobx.1758 said:

@battledrone.8315 said:

@frareanselm.1925 said:

@battledrone.8315 said:

@keenedge.9675 said:

@frareanselm.1925 said:The grenade issue is: how vines can have the intelligence to target you and throw you attacks? Like every kitten living being wants to kill you, its very annoying. Next step will be the grass will poison you.

People said ( and still say) about Orr too. It's an end-game map, you can't just run from mobs. Fight or die.

or simply uninstall and find another game. why does endgame have to be so different from the rest of it?

The endgame of Gw2 is raids, not open world, and this game has always been labeled as casual friendly.

most of base game is casual, the expansions certainly arent. and if they launch on steam in this state, the reviews are gonna tare them to pieces.

If you keep complaining about the current game's state (that has been in that state for many years now) and keep writing about quitting the game instead of learning it (

most recent one

), then why are you still here, playing the game? I can't imagine the game reverting its difficulty levels to the starting maps, it would be pretty stupid and boring.

i havent played for over 6 months now. and people still claim that this is a casual game, when only the start of it is .there is a name for that: BAIT AND SWITCH!!. have fun with the next round of DRMs.before the expansions, i was praising the game, and trying to get my buddies to play it too.now its the exact opposite. imagine buying a western book, and the last half of it is sci fi. same deal.the core game had one audience, the expansions are for a completely different type of players.its basically 2 DIFFERENT GAMES. that would only make sense for those , who DIDNT like the first part.core lovers dont get any expansions. and you have a game without a start. BRILLIANT

Thankfully! Can you imagine three expansion's worth of core gameplay? This game would have shut down years ago!

over a million players liked core enough to pay for the expansion. if the expansions had been near as good, they would had boasted with theperformance. they didnt. they halfed the price instead. money talks, bull... walks

You're right. That's why the next expansion will cater to players who actually play the game and put money toward it. Presumably, those players expect a degree of challenge that goes beyond a walking simulator plus auto-attack. You said it yourself. People who loved the core game and wanted more of that found somewhere else to spend their money.

You can talk about how wildly successful the core game was, but the fact is that's a fantasy. Maybe GW2 isn't wildly successful now, but it's neither here nor there. Going back to the beginning isn't going to happen because that plan already failed. That's why we find ourselves where we are.

it is called the sunk fallacy. youtube has some videos about it, watch them and learn.

Okay. I like what I like and I disagree that returning the game to core level difficulty would be beneficial, regardless of what youtube says. You're welcome to your opinion. Obviously, we are worlds apart on this issue.

yea, lets just wait for the steam reviews. unless they do something drastic, its gonna bomb. its okay to like a hardcore game. but its NOT okay to call it casual.

Why not? Casual does not mean potato. Casual vs. hardcore is about mindset, not relative ability. Casual players don't take the game seriously. Hardcore players do.

For example, I'm mostly a solo player. I dislike the over-competitive types you often find in organized group play in MMOs and I'm not willing to play in static groups that require that I play on a schedule. That is casual, by my definition. But it says nothing about the amount of time I play or my skill level.

For my tastes, GW2 is an excellent game. I can achieve the vast majority of goals in this game solo or with a pickup group. I can do it on my own time whether I play a little or a lot. This makes GW2 a casual-friendly game, in my view.

I fully agree with you there. GW2 is a excellent game for the casual as there is a awful lot of casual content, the big BUT is there is also some overbearing content.The other day I played a story mission (Royal chamber) and it was so long and repetitive I was praying for it to finish. Boss after boss with a trillion HP that I had to slowly chip down on my own( your team mates are useless and seem to dish out a lot of zero's). Army's of mobs that I had to cull on my own, and it went on and on.I quit for the night never wanting to play the game ever again. I was exhausted from the monotony of it all. It's wasn't hard it was mind numbing.Stay clear from it, don't do I hear you say. That's not so easy when there is so much that is locked behind these mind numbing sessions. You have to take a pill hype yourself up and grin and bare it. At these times it is not a game it is kitten painful work.

Story bosses are generally half combat challenge and half puzzle. If it's taking forever to kill them either you're dealing low damage or you aren't understanding something about the mechanics of the encounter.

If this is how the story generally feels to you, I advise grabbing arcdps and asking for advice on your class forum. Arc will allow you to add some context to the discussion. For instance, if you find you're dealing 3k DPS average on a boss when other players are dealing 12k DPS, it's going to take you 4 times as long to defeat the same boss. If that further results in dealing with additional encounter-specific mechanics, then it will take even longer.

This is the sort of issue that isn't immediately obvious to new players playing through solo content. If you're playing by yourself how would you know if you're dealing low damage or if the boss just has a trillion HP?

Your kidding of course. I do very good damage

You don't know this without using ArcDPS.

I have tried my hardest to become immersed into the lore and story of GW but it's near impossible with so much ridiculousness going on in the game.

This is totally fine, not everything is made for everyone. But you not enjoying the games lore, universe and quirkiness is not the games fault.

There a few really good boss fights in GW. Bosses that have a few deadly attacks that you learn and exploit, this promotes team work and/or the proper use of your skills and ability's. Sadly the majority of bosses in GW spam out random attacks at a ridiculous rate that are in the air, on the ground and in your face. Obviously these bosses were designed for being engaged by a great number of players, thus the problem when they drop such bosses into solo content.

They weren't though, all story instances are designed to be played solo. Most players don't seem to struggle with them as much as you do, so it most likely falls back to a suboptimal spec and gear. The game isn't that hard mechanics wise, but pretty unforgiving when it comes to gear/stats.

Faced with these ridiculous bosses you have only one choice if your going to survive it alone or even in a small group and that is to turn on auto fire and dodge and duck your way through it.

Dodging is one of the most important mechanics in this game, so it should not be a surprise that you have to utilize it.

[Maikimaik.1974]

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:Hard to do damage when parked on your bum.

Then don't drop down and the problem will be solved. As @mindcircus.1506 said above, this is more of a problem of gear, build, playstyle or a mix of those. Also, since you are talking about Scruffy 2.0, you can always stay inside Braham's shield which blocks all his attacks. Do your high damage rotation while the shield is on (it has a very fast cooldown) and keep running around when it is not. The achievement there is very hard, but the boss itself is not.

What do you mean? Bratham's shield is only up for a few seconds around every few minutes. How much damage can one do in 2 or 3 seconds? Also if your not near it (been blown to the other side of the area) when his shield goes up it's down long before you get there.I have a shield of my own but for some reason every time I activated it nothing happened and I was yet again blown on my bum.

Do you think Scruffy is going to oblige by entering Bratham's space? And before you say use the bow, as far as I'm concerned the dragon bow is a tickling stick.Oh, and how is your gear going to help you stay on your feet? Are there some anti gravity boots that I don't know about, or maybe the helmet of no fall over?

I don't want to say anything wrong here as I haven't played this instance in quite a while, but this honestly sounds more like a misunderstanding of boss mechanics than anything else...

[Joote.4081]

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:Hard to do damage when parked on your bum.

Then don't drop down and the problem will be solved. As @"mindcircus.1506" said above, this is more of a problem of gear, build, playstyle or a mix of those. Also, since you are talking about Scruffy 2.0, you can always stay inside Braham's shield which blocks all his attacks. Do your high damage rotation while the shield is on (it has a very fast cooldown) and keep running around when it is not. The achievement there is very hard, but the boss itself is not.

What do you mean? Bratham's shield is only up for a few seconds around every few minutes. How much damage can one do in 2 or 3 seconds? Also if your not near it (been blown to the other side of the area) when his shield goes up it's down long before you get there.I have a shield of my own but for some reason every time I activated it nothing happened and I was yet again blown on my bum.

Do you think Scruffy is going to oblige by entering Bratham's space? And before you say use the bow, as far as I'm concerned the dragon bow is a tickling stick.

As a Guardian you can use the Scepter for that fight. Scepter 2 works very well on a stationary target, with a LARGE hitbox, so it hits many many times. As for the duration, the duration of the shield is plenty to allow long casting skills, for example Meteor Shower from an Elementalist. If you are a Guardian then I guess you don't really need it as your burst has low casting times and is very mobile.

Plus, as a Dragonhunter you can use your Aegis to block attacks or use Wings of Resolve to jump to Braham when he uses his shield. Then, once his shield is up, turn to Scruffy, use Spear of Justice, Scepter 2, Sword of Justice, and if you are a bit closer maybe a trap or two, otherwise range the boss and use Bane Signet for extra damage and "Feel my Wrath" as your elite skill.

As I said all of that is useless when your flat on your back. A fart in the general direction spell would be a good spell to have for times like this. The times I do get in I do heavy damage, that sort of kicks the boss into high gear and they really start piling it on. Back on the floor, get up cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up, cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up move, no wait, back on my bum. And it goes on and on and on and.....This sort of thing is not fun. It's not challenging it's repetitive nonsense. Don't they know that?

[Joote.4081]

@LucianDK.8615 said:If you have the jackal, theres a trick to deal with a group of enemies. If you chaincast the jackal blink to get through the group, they will never activate because you are not there long enough for the ai to kick in.

I don't have one yet and I don't know how to get one. I assume it's given through the story at some point.

[Sobx.1758]

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:Hard to do damage when parked on your bum.

Then don't drop down and the problem will be solved. As @"mindcircus.1506" said above, this is more of a problem of gear, build, playstyle or a mix of those. Also, since you are talking about Scruffy 2.0, you can always stay inside Braham's shield which blocks all his attacks. Do your high damage rotation while the shield is on (it has a very fast cooldown) and keep running around when it is not. The achievement there is very hard, but the boss itself is not.

What do you mean? Bratham's shield is only up for a few seconds around every few minutes. How much damage can one do in 2 or 3 seconds? Also if your not near it (been blown to the other side of the area) when his shield goes up it's down long before you get there.I have a shield of my own but for some reason every time I activated it nothing happened and I was yet again blown on my bum.

Do you think Scruffy is going to oblige by entering Bratham's space? And before you say use the bow, as far as I'm concerned the dragon bow is a tickling stick.

As a Guardian you can use the Scepter for that fight. Scepter 2 works very well on a stationary target, with a LARGE hitbox, so it hits many many times. As for the duration, the duration of the shield is plenty to allow long casting skills, for example Meteor Shower from an Elementalist. If you are a Guardian then I guess you don't really need it as your burst has low casting times and is very mobile.

Plus, as a Dragonhunter you can use your Aegis to block attacks or use Wings of Resolve to jump to Braham when he uses his shield. Then, once his shield is up, turn to Scruffy, use Spear of Justice, Scepter 2, Sword of Justice, and if you are a bit closer maybe a trap or two, otherwise range the boss and use Bane Signet for extra damage and "Feel my Wrath" as your elite skill.

As I said all of that is useless when your flat on your back. A fart in the general direction spell would be a good spell to have for times like this. The times I do get in I do heavy damage, that sort of kicks the boss into high gear and they really start piling it on. Back on the floor, get up cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up, cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up move, no wait, back on my bum. And it goes on and on and on and.....This sort of thing is not fun. It's not challenging it's repetitive nonsense. Don't they know that?

I thought you said you don't have problems with content and "it's not hard, just annoying"?If you're getting constantly downed by story mode boss, you're probably missing quite a bit of understanding of the game's mechanics. Maybe. I can only base my opinion about that on the things you're writing here.

[Mungo Zen.9364]

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:Hard to do damage when parked on your bum.

Then don't drop down and the problem will be solved. As @"mindcircus.1506" said above, this is more of a problem of gear, build, playstyle or a mix of those. Also, since you are talking about Scruffy 2.0, you can always stay inside Braham's shield which blocks all his attacks. Do your high damage rotation while the shield is on (it has a very fast cooldown) and keep running around when it is not. The achievement there is very hard, but the boss itself is not.

What do you mean? Bratham's shield is only up for a few seconds around every few minutes. How much damage can one do in 2 or 3 seconds? Also if your not near it (been blown to the other side of the area) when his shield goes up it's down long before you get there.I have a shield of my own but for some reason every time I activated it nothing happened and I was yet again blown on my bum.

Do you think Scruffy is going to oblige by entering Bratham's space? And before you say use the bow, as far as I'm concerned the dragon bow is a tickling stick.

As a Guardian you can use the Scepter for that fight. Scepter 2 works very well on a stationary target, with a LARGE hitbox, so it hits many many times. As for the duration, the duration of the shield is plenty to allow long casting skills, for example Meteor Shower from an Elementalist. If you are a Guardian then I guess you don't really need it as your burst has low casting times and is very mobile.

Plus, as a Dragonhunter you can use your Aegis to block attacks or use Wings of Resolve to jump to Braham when he uses his shield. Then, once his shield is up, turn to Scruffy, use Spear of Justice, Scepter 2, Sword of Justice, and if you are a bit closer maybe a trap or two, otherwise range the boss and use Bane Signet for extra damage and "Feel my Wrath" as your elite skill.

As I said all of that is useless when your flat on your back. A fart in the general direction spell would be a good spell to have for times like this. The times I do get in I do heavy damage, that sort of kicks the boss into high gear and they really start piling it on. Back on the floor, get up cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up, cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up move, no wait, back on my bum. And it goes on and on and on and.....This sort of thing is not fun. It's not challenging it's repetitive nonsense. Don't they know that?

I am pretty sure they know what they were doing when designing this fight. It is designed to challenge you in a different way than other fights we have seen. As others have noted here, there may be something in the way you are approaching this fight that could use a tweak or adjustment. Perhaps it will require changing your weapons or spec to feel more capable of completing this fight.

Again I am impressed with your resilience to continue playing something that frustrates you so regularly, you must have a great love for this game.

[Sobx.1758]

@Joote.4081 said:

@LucianDK.8615 said:If you have the jackal, theres a trick to deal with a group of enemies. If you chaincast the jackal blink to get through the group, they will never activate because you are not there long enough for the ai to kick in.

I don't have one yet and I don't know how to get one. I assume it's given through the story at some point.

If you follow Path of Fire main story, you're guided to it, I think in Desolation map. There will also be an icon on a map, similarly to the previous mounts on previous maps.

[Maikimaik.1974]

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:Hard to do damage when parked on your bum.

Then don't drop down and the problem will be solved. As @"mindcircus.1506" said above, this is more of a problem of gear, build, playstyle or a mix of those. Also, since you are talking about Scruffy 2.0, you can always stay inside Braham's shield which blocks all his attacks. Do your high damage rotation while the shield is on (it has a very fast cooldown) and keep running around when it is not. The achievement there is very hard, but the boss itself is not.

What do you mean? Bratham's shield is only up for a few seconds around every few minutes. How much damage can one do in 2 or 3 seconds? Also if your not near it (been blown to the other side of the area) when his shield goes up it's down long before you get there.I have a shield of my own but for some reason every time I activated it nothing happened and I was yet again blown on my bum.

Do you think Scruffy is going to oblige by entering Bratham's space? And before you say use the bow, as far as I'm concerned the dragon bow is a tickling stick.

As a Guardian you can use the Scepter for that fight. Scepter 2 works very well on a stationary target, with a LARGE hitbox, so it hits many many times. As for the duration, the duration of the shield is plenty to allow long casting skills, for example Meteor Shower from an Elementalist. If you are a Guardian then I guess you don't really need it as your burst has low casting times and is very mobile.

Plus, as a Dragonhunter you can use your Aegis to block attacks or use Wings of Resolve to jump to Braham when he uses his shield. Then, once his shield is up, turn to Scruffy, use Spear of Justice, Scepter 2, Sword of Justice, and if you are a bit closer maybe a trap or two, otherwise range the boss and use Bane Signet for extra damage and "Feel my Wrath" as your elite skill.

As I said all of that is useless when your flat on your back. A fart in the general direction spell would be a good spell to have for times like this. The times I do get in I do heavy damage, that sort of kicks the boss into high gear and they really start piling it on. Back on the floor, get up cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up, cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up move, no wait, back on my bum. And it goes on and on and on and.....This sort of thing is not fun. It's not challenging it's repetitive nonsense. Don't they know that?

I'm going to be completely honest with you. Your posts are starting to become frustrating. People are asking you for your build, you won't share it. People are telling you to use ArcDPS, you won't use it. Change your build, you won't, use this tactic, you don't.You don't seem to even consider that there might be something that YOU could change in your approach. It's always the game, it's never your fault. It's never your build, never your approach, never your skills.Maybe your dps isn't high enough? - "You have to be kidding my dps is fine"Maybe you don't understand a boss mechanic? - "No I understand it perfectly it's just a bad mechanic"It's fine not to be the best at a game. What's not fine is sticking your fingers in your ears, ignoring everything people are telling you and trying to shift all the blame away from you.

[BlueJin.4127]

@brgmns.9235 said:

@"Vayne.8563" said:

You may well be having trouble with the game, but that doesn't necessarily make a game hard core. If you don't agree, you can make a post on the forums and ask for the communities opinions on whether this game is hard core or not, difficult or not. My guess is only a small percentage of people will say it's hard core.

From my point of view this is a casual MMO that has become slightly less casual due to more grinding to get specific rewards. But most of that grinding is something that you don't need to do quickly and can be done over time.

Asking the hardcore base (people that post on forums aren’t the majority and by naitire are rarely casual even if they call themselves that) what they think the difficulty is doesn’t really work well lol.

Having played EQ at launch, we can probably agree it was hardcore, and most any MMO thats launched since then I’d say in today’s MMO this game is fairly hardcore for a newer player.

Veteran players don’t realize that because you have everything unlocked, fly around, have a great friend base to do what you need so honestly your opinion is so far obscured it’s basically useless. A brain surgeon telling a resident removing an appendix is trivial didn’t make it so.

The core game was fairly simple, easier than that honestly. HoT is a pain for new players. Constant events where your story takes you, half the time no one there to help you so you can barely get to the green marker. Veteran mobs are kind of tough and everywhere. It’s a maze on a massive scale up, down and underground so just knowing where to go is a pain. (green quest marker doesn’t say it’s up or down from current location like hero points do). Overall this isn’t casual by today’s standards at all.

Just running events with crowds isn’t casual. The mechanics aren’t hard, but aren’t simple either, it’s really fast paced because 90% of the people know what they are doing and the rest us are basically along for the ride so learning exactly what to do isn’t easy playing from behind most of the time. That’s not casual, that’s like joking a boss fight in a raid without any concept of what to do.

I’m not basing the game, it is what it is and I’m still playing it and like it a lot, but saying it’s causal and not hardcore by today’s standards isn’t accurate, at least to a new player.

No veteran was born good at this game. Veterans didn't have all mounts and masteries magically unlocked from the beginning of the game. They started from scratch just like any player that starts playing from today. Players improve over time. If a player is having trouble with HoT, it's not because they're casual; it's because they didn't improve enough since they started. Plenty of new and casual players have no trouble integrating into HoT. I never felt that HoT was too hard when I first stepped in and I was a casual barely a month into the game at the time. There is definitely a jump in difficulty curve, but nothing that can't be overcome by casually upgrading gears, builds, and learning to play a profession. Being a casual doesn't mean not learning or improving.

I also cannot say that running events with crowds isn't casual. I was no veteran when I started playing HoT. When I returned to the game from a break, I had no idea what Drizzlewood was like. And I only recently got into fractals. Everybody already knew what they were doing, and I was just following them around clueless. After a couple of runs of just mindlessly following them, I learned the "mechanics" while not even trying to learn. I'd say that is very much casual. Again, being a casual doesn't mean not learning or improving.

[AliamRationem.5172]

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:Hard to do damage when parked on your bum.

Then don't drop down and the problem will be solved. As @"mindcircus.1506" said above, this is more of a problem of gear, build, playstyle or a mix of those. Also, since you are talking about Scruffy 2.0, you can always stay inside Braham's shield which blocks all his attacks. Do your high damage rotation while the shield is on (it has a very fast cooldown) and keep running around when it is not. The achievement there is very hard, but the boss itself is not.

What do you mean? Bratham's shield is only up for a few seconds around every few minutes. How much damage can one do in 2 or 3 seconds? Also if your not near it (been blown to the other side of the area) when his shield goes up it's down long before you get there.I have a shield of my own but for some reason every time I activated it nothing happened and I was yet again blown on my bum.

Do you think Scruffy is going to oblige by entering Bratham's space? And before you say use the bow, as far as I'm concerned the dragon bow is a tickling stick.

As a Guardian you can use the Scepter for that fight. Scepter 2 works very well on a stationary target, with a LARGE hitbox, so it hits many many times. As for the duration, the duration of the shield is plenty to allow long casting skills, for example Meteor Shower from an Elementalist. If you are a Guardian then I guess you don't really need it as your burst has low casting times and is very mobile.

Plus, as a Dragonhunter you can use your Aegis to block attacks or use Wings of Resolve to jump to Braham when he uses his shield. Then, once his shield is up, turn to Scruffy, use Spear of Justice, Scepter 2, Sword of Justice, and if you are a bit closer maybe a trap or two, otherwise range the boss and use Bane Signet for extra damage and "Feel my Wrath" as your elite skill.

As I said all of that is useless when your flat on your back. A fart in the general direction spell would be a good spell to have for times like this. The times I do get in I do heavy damage, that sort of kicks the boss into high gear and they really start piling it on. Back on the floor, get up cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up, cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up move, no wait, back on my bum. And it goes on and on and on and.....This sort of thing is not fun. It's not challenging it's repetitive nonsense. Don't they know that?

It seems it is challenging if you are spending the entire fight in down state. The game is nice enough to carry you through even so, but I assure you that is not the intended way of completing this content. Neither is it designed for groups (although you can bring friends!), as you asserted previously. As several people have now explained, you are doing something wrong. Perhaps once you understand what that is and correct it, you'll find this content more enjoyable. As always, other players on the forums can assist in that. However, if you continue to blame the game instead of looking for ways to improve, you'll likely find this a frustrating experience.

[brgmns.9235]

@"BlueJin.4127" said:

No veteran was born good at this game. Veterans didn't have all mounts and masteries magically unlocked from the beginning of the game. They started from scratch just like any player that starts playing from today. Players improve over time. If a player is having trouble with HoT, it's not because they're casual; it's because they didn't improve enough since they started. Plenty of new and casual players have no trouble integrating into HoT. I never felt that HoT was too hard when I first stepped in and I was a casual barely a month into the game at the time. There is definitely a jump in difficulty curve, but nothing that can't be overcome by casually upgrading gears, builds, and learning to play a profession.

I also cannot say that running events with crowds isn't casual. I was no veteran when I started playing HoT. When I returned to the game from a break, I had no idea what Drizzlewood was like. And I only recently got into fractals. Everybody already knew what they were doing, and I was just following them around clueless. After a couple of runs of just mindlessly following them, I learned the "mechanics" while not even trying to learn. I didn't have to do anything special to learn; just follow players around. I'd say that is very much casual. Being a casual doesn't mean not learning or improving.

See this concept of we’ve been there is useless because many Vets forget how it was back then without everything they have now to help them. It’s been said when you forget the pain the experience you speak of means nothing. That’s a very true statement.

[BlueJin.4127]

I started the game less than 3 years ago. I remember very well starting from scratch, without what I have now. And not counting over a year away from the game, I played the game for about a year and half.

And nobody is telling casuals to perform a surgery or do a raid. Going through the story or playing open world is nothing close to performing a surgery or doing a raid. It doesn’t take much effort (if you can call it that) to learn to play through the story and open world. I can understand not liking the PoF aggro range, because they’re annoying regardless of the player’s skill. But if you’re having a hard time killing enemies in the story and open world, you need to put in a very minimal effort to improve.

Here are 2 very casual advices:

1) Copy a veteran’s build. You can ask people in the forums or in-game if going to a dedicated build web site is too hardcore for you.2) For gears, buy and equip a mix of level 78 exotic quality Berserker gears and level 80 rare quality Soldier gears. They're cheap and give a nice balance of offense and defense to start with. For runes, Superior Rune of the Vampirism is decent and cheap. For sigils, Major Sigil of Force and Major Sigil of Accuracy are decent and cheap.

If you think following above 2 advices are too much for a casual, it’s not because the story and open world aren’t casual oriented.

[Joote.4081]

@Sobx.1758 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@LucianDK.8615 said:If you have the jackal, theres a trick to deal with a group of enemies. If you chaincast the jackal blink to get through the group, they will never activate because you are not there long enough for the ai to kick in.

I don't have one yet and I don't know how to get one. I assume it's given through the story at some point.

If you follow Path of Fire main story, you're guided to it, I think in Desolation map. There will also be an icon on a map, similarly to the previous mounts on previous maps.

Okay good to know. I quit the main POF story at the part (no spoilers) were you have to find yourself. It was just to daft to take seriously. So I then went on to play the LW seasons. Looks like I'm going to have to go back to the main story then. :(

[Joote.4081]

@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:Hard to do damage when parked on your bum.

Then don't drop down and the problem will be solved. As @"mindcircus.1506" said above, this is more of a problem of gear, build, playstyle or a mix of those. Also, since you are talking about Scruffy 2.0, you can always stay inside Braham's shield which blocks all his attacks. Do your high damage rotation while the shield is on (it has a very fast cooldown) and keep running around when it is not. The achievement there is very hard, but the boss itself is not.

What do you mean? Bratham's shield is only up for a few seconds around every few minutes. How much damage can one do in 2 or 3 seconds? Also if your not near it (been blown to the other side of the area) when his shield goes up it's down long before you get there.I have a shield of my own but for some reason every time I activated it nothing happened and I was yet again blown on my bum.

Do you think Scruffy is going to oblige by entering Bratham's space? And before you say use the bow, as far as I'm concerned the dragon bow is a tickling stick.

As a Guardian you can use the Scepter for that fight. Scepter 2 works very well on a stationary target, with a LARGE hitbox, so it hits many many times. As for the duration, the duration of the shield is plenty to allow long casting skills, for example Meteor Shower from an Elementalist. If you are a Guardian then I guess you don't really need it as your burst has low casting times and is very mobile.

Plus, as a Dragonhunter you can use your Aegis to block attacks or use Wings of Resolve to jump to Braham when he uses his shield. Then, once his shield is up, turn to Scruffy, use Spear of Justice, Scepter 2, Sword of Justice, and if you are a bit closer maybe a trap or two, otherwise range the boss and use Bane Signet for extra damage and "Feel my Wrath" as your elite skill.

As I said all of that is useless when your flat on your back. A fart in the general direction spell would be a good spell to have for times like this. The times I do get in I do heavy damage, that sort of kicks the boss into high gear and they really start piling it on. Back on the floor, get up cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up, cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up move, no wait, back on my bum. And it goes on and on and on and.....This sort of thing is not fun. It's not challenging it's repetitive nonsense. Don't they know that?

It seems it is challenging if you are spending the entire fight in down state. The game is nice enough to carry you through even so, but I assure you that is not the intended way of completing this content. Neither is it designed for groups (although you can bring friends!), as you asserted previously. As several people have now explained, you are doing something wrong. Perhaps once you understand what that is and correct it, you'll find this content more enjoyable. As always, other players on the forums can assist in that. However, if you continue to blame the game instead of looking for ways to improve, you'll likely find this a frustrating experience.

If I change my skills and gear will that give me protection from getting knocked on my bun ever 2 seconds?

I've not found any of the boss fights hard I can punish them when I can get my hands on them but the game doesn't want me to do this . It want to disable me in some way (cheat). So as to chain me down while it pummels me into submission. Then I'm suppose to say 'wow, that was hard' when it wasn't hard, it was fixed. I am at a loss how some of you guys can't see that.How many times I have gone into a fight and visually had 3 to 4 other creatures spawn out of thin air right next to me. Yeah, challenging not? That is the game trolling me. It doesn't bother me anymore I'm use to it but it is a reality.

[mindcircus.1506]

@Joote.4081 said:

@Sobx.1758 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@LucianDK.8615 said:If you have the jackal, theres a trick to deal with a group of enemies. If you chaincast the jackal blink to get through the group, they will never activate because you are not there long enough for the ai to kick in.

I don't have one yet and I don't know how to get one. I assume it's given through the story at some point.

If you follow Path of Fire main story, you're guided to it, I think in Desolation map. There will also be an icon on a map, similarly to the previous mounts on previous maps.

Okay good to know. I quit the main POF story at the part (no spoilers) were you have to find yourself. It was just to daft to take seriously. So I then went on to play the LW seasons. Looks like I'm going to have to go back to the main story then. :(Obtaining the jackal is done independently of the story.You can simply go to the djinn temple in the SW Corner of The Desolation and start the Heart there. The only requisites are completing the heart, having the requisite currencies (20 Gold coin and 200  Trade Contracts) and have trained either the Springer's High Vault mastery, or the Skimmer's Ride the Wind mastery.

[mindcircus.1506]

@"Joote.4081" said:If I change my skills and gear will that give me protection from getting knocked on my bun ever 2 seconds?

As a Guardian you have many sources of the buff Stability. This buff will indeed prevent you from being knocked back/down.Putting the power "Stand your ground" on your bar will give you a full 6 seconds of Stability before any modifiers such as increased Concentration.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/%22Stand_Your_Ground!%22

That said, this is not needed to beat this encounter.

[Sobx.1758]

@Joote.4081 said:

@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:Hard to do damage when parked on your bum.

Then don't drop down and the problem will be solved. As @"mindcircus.1506" said above, this is more of a problem of gear, build, playstyle or a mix of those. Also, since you are talking about Scruffy 2.0, you can always stay inside Braham's shield which blocks all his attacks. Do your high damage rotation while the shield is on (it has a very fast cooldown) and keep running around when it is not. The achievement there is very hard, but the boss itself is not.

What do you mean? Bratham's shield is only up for a few seconds around every few minutes. How much damage can one do in 2 or 3 seconds? Also if your not near it (been blown to the other side of the area) when his shield goes up it's down long before you get there.I have a shield of my own but for some reason every time I activated it nothing happened and I was yet again blown on my bum.

Do you think Scruffy is going to oblige by entering Bratham's space? And before you say use the bow, as far as I'm concerned the dragon bow is a tickling stick.

As a Guardian you can use the Scepter for that fight. Scepter 2 works very well on a stationary target, with a LARGE hitbox, so it hits many many times. As for the duration, the duration of the shield is plenty to allow long casting skills, for example Meteor Shower from an Elementalist. If you are a Guardian then I guess you don't really need it as your burst has low casting times and is very mobile.

Plus, as a Dragonhunter you can use your Aegis to block attacks or use Wings of Resolve to jump to Braham when he uses his shield. Then, once his shield is up, turn to Scruffy, use Spear of Justice, Scepter 2, Sword of Justice, and if you are a bit closer maybe a trap or two, otherwise range the boss and use Bane Signet for extra damage and "Feel my Wrath" as your elite skill.

As I said all of that is useless when your flat on your back. A fart in the general direction spell would be a good spell to have for times like this. The times I do get in I do heavy damage, that sort of kicks the boss into high gear and they really start piling it on. Back on the floor, get up cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up, cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up move, no wait, back on my bum. And it goes on and on and on and.....This sort of thing is not fun. It's not challenging it's repetitive nonsense. Don't they know that?

It seems it is challenging if you are spending the entire fight in down state. The game is nice enough to carry you through even so, but I assure you that is not the intended way of completing this content. Neither is it designed for groups (although you can bring friends!), as you asserted previously. As several people have now explained, you are doing something wrong. Perhaps once you understand what that is and correct it, you'll find this content more enjoyable. As always, other players on the forums can assist in that. However, if you continue to blame the game instead of looking for ways to improve, you'll likely find this a frustrating experience.

If I change my skills and gear will that give me protection from getting knocked on my bun ever 2 seconds?

It want to disable me in some way (cheat). So as to chain me down while it pummels me into submission. Then I'm suppose to say 'wow, that was hard' when it wasn't hard, it was fixed. I am at a loss how some of you guys can't see that.

In vast majority of cases it's not "fixed", it's you failing the game mechanics.

[Vayne.8563]

@brgmns.9235 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

You may well be having trouble with the game, but that doesn't necessarily make a game hard core. If you don't agree, you can make a post on the forums and ask for the communities opinions on whether this game is hard core or not, difficult or not. My guess is only a small percentage of people will say it's hard core.

From my point of view this is a casual MMO that has become slightly less casual due to more grinding to get specific rewards. But most of that grinding is something that you don't need to do quickly and can be done over time.

Asking the hardcore base (people that post on forums aren’t the majority and by naitire are rarely casual even if they call themselves that) what they think the difficulty is doesn’t really work well lol.

Having played EQ at launch, we can probably agree it was hardcore, and most any MMO thats launched since then I’d say in today’s MMO this game is fairly hardcore for a newer player.

Veteran players don’t realize that because you have everything unlocked, fly around, have a great friend base to do what you need so honestly your opinion is so far obscured it’s basically useless. A brain surgeon telling a resident removing an appendix is trivial didn’t make it so.

The core game was fairly simple, easier than that honestly. HoT is a pain for new players. Constant events where your story takes you, half the time no one there to help you so you can barely get to the green marker. Veteran mobs are kind of tough and everywhere. It’s a maze on a massive scale up, down and underground so just knowing where to go is a pain. (green quest marker doesn’t say it’s up or down from current location like hero points do). Overall this isn’t casual by today’s standards at all.

Just running events with crowds isn’t casual. The mechanics aren’t hard, but aren’t simple either, it’s really fast paced because 90% of the people know what they are doing and the rest us are basically along for the ride so learning exactly what to do isn’t easy playing from behind most of the time. That’s not casual, that’s like joking a boss fight in a raid without any concept of what to do.

I’m not basing the game, it is what it is and I’m still playing it and like it a lot, but saying it’s causal and not hardcore by today’s standards isn’t accurate, at least to a new player.

HoT is a pain for new players, because it was designed to be end game content. There are always going to be people who run into a game try to jump right into raids and fail, but it doesn't make those raids hard core. There are also people who don't play games well and think all games should be geared to that level of difficulty.

I'm not saying there's not a learning curve for HOT. But between groups of HP runners and metas anyone can do it's casual enough, for sure. Or do you think only hard core players run AB every day? Or Dragonstand? You can get the meta reward from VB by killing the matriarch. Sure there's a learning curve, doesn't mean the game isn't casual.

Keep in mind plenty of people complain about Orr and Orr wasn't that hard, even at launch. It was nerfed based on those complaints. The game is casual. If it has four hard open world zones in it, it's still a casual game.

[AliamRationem.5172]

@Joote.4081 said:

@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@Joote.4081 said:Hard to do damage when parked on your bum.

Then don't drop down and the problem will be solved. As @"mindcircus.1506" said above, this is more of a problem of gear, build, playstyle or a mix of those. Also, since you are talking about Scruffy 2.0, you can always stay inside Braham's shield which blocks all his attacks. Do your high damage rotation while the shield is on (it has a very fast cooldown) and keep running around when it is not. The achievement there is very hard, but the boss itself is not.

What do you mean? Bratham's shield is only up for a few seconds around every few minutes. How much damage can one do in 2 or 3 seconds? Also if your not near it (been blown to the other side of the area) when his shield goes up it's down long before you get there.I have a shield of my own but for some reason every time I activated it nothing happened and I was yet again blown on my bum.

Do you think Scruffy is going to oblige by entering Bratham's space? And before you say use the bow, as far as I'm concerned the dragon bow is a tickling stick.

As a Guardian you can use the Scepter for that fight. Scepter 2 works very well on a stationary target, with a LARGE hitbox, so it hits many many times. As for the duration, the duration of the shield is plenty to allow long casting skills, for example Meteor Shower from an Elementalist. If you are a Guardian then I guess you don't really need it as your burst has low casting times and is very mobile.

Plus, as a Dragonhunter you can use your Aegis to block attacks or use Wings of Resolve to jump to Braham when he uses his shield. Then, once his shield is up, turn to Scruffy, use Spear of Justice, Scepter 2, Sword of Justice, and if you are a bit closer maybe a trap or two, otherwise range the boss and use Bane Signet for extra damage and "Feel my Wrath" as your elite skill.

As I said all of that is useless when your flat on your back. A fart in the general direction spell would be a good spell to have for times like this. The times I do get in I do heavy damage, that sort of kicks the boss into high gear and they really start piling it on. Back on the floor, get up cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up, cast, no wait, back on the floor, get up move, no wait, back on my bum. And it goes on and on and on and.....This sort of thing is not fun. It's not challenging it's repetitive nonsense. Don't they know that?

It seems it is challenging if you are spending the entire fight in down state. The game is nice enough to carry you through even so, but I assure you that is not the intended way of completing this content. Neither is it designed for groups (although you can bring friends!), as you asserted previously. As several people have now explained, you are doing something wrong. Perhaps once you understand what that is and correct it, you'll find this content more enjoyable. As always, other players on the forums can assist in that. However, if you continue to blame the game instead of looking for ways to improve, you'll likely find this a frustrating experience.

If I change my skills and gear will that give me protection from getting knocked on my bun ever 2 seconds?

I've not found any of the boss fights hard I can punish them when I can get my hands on them but the game doesn't want me to do this . It want to disable me in some way (cheat). So as to chain me down while it pummels me into submission. Then I'm suppose to say 'wow, that was hard' when it wasn't hard, it was fixed. I am at a loss how some of you guys can't see that.How many times I have gone into a fight and visually had 3 to 4 other creatures spawn out of thin air right next to me. Yeah, challenging not? That is the game trolling me. It doesn't bother me anymore I'm use to it but it is a reality.

Yes, it will. You have stability, aegis, invuln, dodge, and stunbreaks. You may give up some damage for additional sustain in solo play, but it'll be worth it if you can deal damage without repeatedly getting stunned and downed.

If you think you're doing great, try looking up some videos of more experienced players soloing encounters you feel are difficult or impossible. See it for yourself so you can get over this idea that you're doing everything right but the game is poorly designed. Eventually you will look back on this and laugh, but right now you're just arguing with people who are trying to help and looking rather foolish in the process.

[brgmns.9235]

@Vayne.8563 said:

HoT is a pain for new players, because it was designed to be end game content. There are always going to be people who run into a game try to jump right into raids and fail, but it doesn't make those raids hard core. There are also people who don't play games well and think all games should be geared to that level of difficulty.

I'm not saying there's not a learning curve for HOT. But between groups of HP runners and metas anyone can do it's casual enough, for sure. Or do you think only hard core players run AB every day? Or Dragonstand? You can get the meta reward from VB by killing the matriarch. Sure there's a learning curve, doesn't mean the game isn't casual.

Keep in mind plenty of people complain about Orr and Orr wasn't that hard, even at launch. It was nerfed based on those complaints. The game is casual. If it has four hard open world zones in it, it's still a casual game.

If you said Core game is casual I'd give it to you, saying the expansions are is simply being either elitist or naïve. Based on the replied on this and other posts many say once you get to HoT you need to make sure your build is good, your gear is squared away and you use tactics properly. To me if you need specific builds for an expansion to be mostly viable that's not casual. If you can't get to and solo the solo side of the game because group encounters are in the way it's not casual. I'm not saying it's the most difficult game ever, but core is casual, expansions aren't IMO.

[BlueJin.4127]

You do not specific builds. You do not need the best builds. You can do so with decent builds. There’s nothing hard about copying a decent build. Using completely thoughtless builds and not wanting to use decent builds is not the same as being casual.

The gears I listed aren’t the best gears. They’re not even great gears. They’re just cheap gears that are decent enough to get the job done. There’s nothing anti-casual about the low budget gears I listed. Using completely random gears and not wanting to upgrade to OK gears is not the same as being as casual.

You do not need expert tactics. Just knowing basics is good enough. None of us gave you hardcore advice. We didn’t tell you the perfect rotation. We just gave you some simple information. Refusing to learn minor tactics for simple stuff is not the same as being casual.

Group contents =/= anti-casual. The vast majority of open world group contents can be done by a group of bad players as long as they have the number of players that content was designed for.

The advice we’re giving aren’t expert advice to get you through hardcore raids. They’re just casual information that casuals can easily use to get through casual contents. Instead of arguing that we’re being too hardcore, if you just simply copied a decent build, used decent gears, and used decent tactics, you’d get through these casual contents with ease. The story mission that Joote is talking about is actually challenging for casual contents, but by using the casual advice given, even that can be done without too much trouble. Just being bad and refusing to get to a decent place is not the same as being casual. You're exaggerating like if I go from burning my food 50% of the time to only burning my food 20% of the time, I need to become an expert chef.

[Maikimaik.1974]

@brgmns.9235 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

HoT is a pain for new players, because it was designed to be end game content. There are always going to be people who run into a game try to jump right into raids and fail, but it doesn't make those raids hard core. There are also people who don't play games well and think all games should be geared to that level of difficulty.

I'm not saying there's not a learning curve for HOT. But between groups of HP runners and metas anyone can do it's casual enough, for sure. Or do you think only hard core players run AB every day? Or Dragonstand? You can get the meta reward from VB by killing the matriarch. Sure there's a learning curve, doesn't mean the game isn't casual.

Keep in mind plenty of people complain about Orr and Orr wasn't that hard, even at launch. It was nerfed based on those complaints. The game is casual. If it has four hard open world zones in it, it's still a casual game.

If you can't get to and solo the solo side of the game because group encounters are in the way it's not casual.

You're playing an MMO. What did you expect?

[The Boz.2038]

I honestly do think Joote managed to miss the entire game mechanics part of this game.For someone to be so adamant about their stance, but refuse to engage with any concrete information or feedback has to be rooted in ignorance.Does your build have any synergy with itself? Sigils? Runes? Boons? Stats? Are any of these things familiar to you?

[Vayne.8563]

@Maikimaik.1974 said:

@brgmns.9235 said:

@Vayne.8563 said:

HoT is a pain for new players, because it was designed to be end game content. There are always going to be people who run into a game try to jump right into raids and fail, but it doesn't make those raids hard core. There are also people who don't play games well and think all games should be geared to that level of difficulty.

I'm not saying there's not a learning curve for HOT. But between groups of HP runners and metas anyone can do it's casual enough, for sure. Or do you think only hard core players run AB every day? Or Dragonstand? You can get the meta reward from VB by killing the matriarch. Sure there's a learning curve, doesn't mean the game isn't casual.

Keep in mind plenty of people complain about Orr and Orr wasn't that hard, even at launch. It was nerfed based on those complaints. The game is casual. If it has four hard open world zones in it, it's still a casual game.

If you can't get to and solo the solo side of the game because group encounters are in the way it's not casual.

You're playing an MMO. What did you expect?

Not being forced to group and get stuff done makes it casual. You don't have to group like in a dungeon or raid. You have to show up at a world boss or meta. It's not the same thing. It absolutely is casual because anyone can do it. Being carried by 50 strangers makes it doable for even people who press nothing but 1.