Hidden Arcana. Why did it have to be Hidden Arcana. (tips please)

[Danger Ferret.6342]

40 minutes ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

My opening statements was clearly directed at the fact that even such content existed and players managed to complete it even with complaints in the forums. This poses an antipodal situation to today's content which we are given which has been dumbed down significantly. In fact I can't recall a single story instance which was not gutted or nerfed past the caudecus fight (the eater of souls in the PoF story having eating his share of nerfs) which even remotely required more than pressing 1.

 

 

If you had bothered to put that last part of my post in context with the beginning, you would have hopefully not self projected as much.

This is the second time with the "if you had bothered" thing. If you want to sniff down your nose at the player base, which you absolutely did, and follow it up with sniffing down your nose at criticism, well, have fun with that.

 

Also, it's entirely possible that any communication "error" was in the expression, not the interpretation. Maybe you shouldn't assume I'm misreading you, but that you possibly misspoke. Perhaps you should bother expressing yourself more carefully if it isn't your intention to insult other people participating in the thread, not blame them for noticing.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Danger Ferret.6342

[Galmac.4680]

I'm really afraid of perhaps having to do the migraine story part again...

[Cyninja.2954]

10 minutes ago, Galmac.4680 said:

I'm really afraid of perhaps having to do the migraine story part again...

 

I don't believe we will be required to do migraine (the CM version of he final HoT fight), but I do believe we will see the entirety of the HoT story revisited. That is if the current implementation continues in style and approach.

 

The good news here, and as a small hint to others, the HoT story instances are very well built with triggers at nearly every step. This allows one to rush past almost all dialogue without breaking the instance given a trigger further down will pick up and skip the instance forward.

 

It takes a total of around 2-2.5 hours to rush through the entire HoT story this way. That shouldn't be to bad.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Cyninja.2954

[Manasa Devi.7958]

The real good news is, that HoT story instances have nothing to do with living story seasons 2, 3, 4 and IBS, which is what this 24 week meta event is about.

[Tyncale.1629]

The Boss fight is annoying but it sure is a beautiful zone.  Artwork like that is why GW2 never really does get old for me. I mean, I would not want to play for too long in such a crystal world, but they really managed to hit it on the nose, building a Lair of Crystal. 

[Witch of Doom.5739]

15 hours ago, Beleron.9347 said:

This is probably about the point in the thread where someone comes along to boast about how easy they found it and that the rest of us just need to " learn to play" and "git gud".

You were certainly right about this!  Apparently our "skills have declined" and we are terrible players.

[Dami.5046]

Had to read the wiki, because it's been a while and it's bloody annoying. I wouldn't suggest doing it with a sore, numb left arm in a hot room.

 

[Danger Ferret.6342]

40 minutes ago, Witch of Doom.5739 said:

You were certainly right about this!  Apparently our "skills have declined" and we are terrible players.

And unable to read or think for concluding that was what was written, merely because we noticed ... that's what was written. We're just awful.

[Kaliwenda.3428]

5 hours ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

 

I don't believe we will be required to do migraine (the CM version of he final HoT fight), but I do believe we will see the entirety of the HoT story revisited. That is if the current implementation continues in style and approach.

 

The good news here, and as a small hint to others, the HoT story instances are very well built with triggers at nearly every step. This allows one to rush past almost all dialogue without breaking the instance given a trigger further down will pick up and skip the instance forward.

 

It takes a total of around 2-2.5 hours to rush through the entire HoT story this way. That shouldn't be to bad.

I took the alt I'm using now thru all of the base personal story at the end of last week, and I plan to take him thru the HoT story the rest of this week after I finish the last two episodes I need for the current event.  I'll try to remember to time it and see how long it takes me.

[Chichimec.9364]

When they first announced this Living World meta I was excited. It seemed like we would have week after week of new goals to accomplish and it sounded like fun, especially with a legendary amulet and legendary weapon precursor as rewards at the end. Ah, how young and foolish I was last April when this was all first announced. The meta event had already begun to turn into a dull grind as far as I was concerned even before Hidden Arcana. Mat gathering in Dry Top/Silverwastes and redoing map events I've done any number of times before - this is supposed to be fun? With piles of sand as rewards?

 

The Hidden Arcana segment killed any last thoughts of fun for me. Yeah, I got it done solo my first time through, but the segment was too long, too boring, and the fighting at the end was based on dumb mechanics that had nothing to do with anything else in the segment. Some developer probably thought they had come up with a cool fight. She or he didn't. They only came up with an irritating one that I just rushed to be done with. I do want that legendary amulet so I will grind through week after week of this nonsense but I no longer expect it to be much fun.  😞

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by Chichimec.9364

[Harfang.1507]

I think looking for help and asking for a group was the right move. One question though: have you thought about checking on Dulfy? She still has some of the best guides out there. Your self-description could apply to me as well and her guides have changed some of the most nightmarish story instances into routine stuff for me.

[Witch of Doom.5739]

16 minutes ago, Harfang.1507 said:

I think looking for help and asking for a group was the right move. One question though: have you thought about checking on Dulfy? She still has some of the best guides out there. Your self-description could apply to me as well and her guides have changed some of the most nightmarish story instances into routine stuff for me.

Ah, Dulfy.  Loved Dulfy.  I also rely on the YT'er AynMaiden; she's awesome.

[Andy.5981]

The achievement at the end boss - Defeat the malevolent memory without transferring any boon to the vortex crystal?

It is very easy to obtain when you remember something about Guild Wars 2.

It is a Massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

Go in with two players. When you head down towards the malevolent memory, one player heads right and goes and stands in the corner for most of the duration of the fight.

The first player solos the boss. Don't worry if you die Marjorie will rez you.

Near the end of the fight the second player can do a little bit of damage and then back off (not 100% sure if this is required I actually think it isn't i.e. you probably could get away without doing any damage just so long as the boss dies).

You should get the achievement. Then repeat for the player that hasn't got the achievement the first time round.

[ThaKrulll.4150]

19 hours ago, asterix.9614 said:

got rid of the unnecessary fights at the start.

 

Those fights against the facets are a good way to gradually introduce players to new mechanics that are then used to beat the final boss of the instance. You can't just remove them. 

[Danger Ferret.6342]

2 hours ago, Andy.5981 said:

The achievement at the end boss - Defeat the malevolent memory without transferring any boon to the vortex crystal?

It is very easy to obtain when you remember something about Guild Wars 2.

It is a Massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

Go in with two players. When you head down towards the malevolent memory, one player heads right and goes and stands in the corner for most of the duration of the fight.

The first player solos the boss. Don't worry if you die Marjorie will rez you.

Near the end of the fight the second player can do a little bit of damage and then back off (not 100% sure if this is required I actually think it isn't i.e. you probably could get away without doing any damage just so long as the boss dies).

You should get the achievement. Then repeat for the player that hasn't got the achievement the first time round.

Thank you for the tip. That might prove very effective in the future.

 

Personally, though, the story chapters are presented as things within the MMO that you should be able to complete solo. Everything else like dungeons and Raids that really requires more than one player to complete either suggest you find party members or just refuses to allow you entry.

 

I sure don't mind taking advantage of group dynamics when they're available, but story instances are often something I personally do when there don't seem to be many people around doing group activities I want to participate in at the moment. So as long as the group dynamics are a suggestion, like you're making here, and not a requirement to complete stories reasonably, I'm all for it.

 

Again, thanks for the tip. That's a great idea.

[Stalkingwolf.6035]

Endboss 74% DC. Thank you. now i remember why i stopped playing the game. Most bugged MMO on the market

 

ah yes forgot. played Caithe's Reconnaissance Squad and it didnt count for the Meta  👍

Edited June 9, 2021 by Stalkingwolf.6035

[Pifil.5193]

3 hours ago, Witch of Doom.5739 said:

Ah, Dulfy.  Loved Dulfy.  I also rely on the YT'er AynMaiden; she's awesome.

 

Yeah AyinMaiden is great and TiffyMissWiffy is also producing some very good guides for these achievements right now too.

 

[Andy.5981]

28 minutes ago, Danger Ferret.6342 said:

Thank you for the tip. That might prove very effective in the future.

 

Personally, though, the story chapters are presented as things within the MMO that you should be able to complete solo. Everything else like dungeons and Raids that really requires more than one player to complete either suggest you find party members or just refuses to allow you entry.

 

I sure don't mind taking advantage of group dynamics when they're available, but story instances are often something I personally do when there don't seem to be many people around doing group activities I want to participate in at the moment. So as long as the group dynamics are a suggestion, like you're making here, and not a requirement to complete stories reasonably, I'm all for it.

 

Again, thanks for the tip. That's a great idea.

You are welcome.

A lot of the "harder" or seemingly impossible achievements in the LS can be done this way. I do understand what you are saying though. The choice to solo or group within the story should always be a player choice not something forced upon them.
 

[Gorem.8104]

To be fair, the story fights themselves are easy to do solo if you don't care about the achievements themselves (no penalty for death). If you care about achievements its then your choice to do the harder, solo route, or the extremely can AFK easy lfg route. 

 

I remember when this quest first came out there were hundreds of groups doing it. Could easily get in a 5man then afk your way to every achievement as the same person was running it multiple times to get everyone else through it. 

 

Its not a hard instance, its just an instance that can't be power crept since its just mechanics, mechanics that are taught to you inside a nice looking area. 

 

But yeah, if you want the achievements, get someone who already has them to do the entire instance for you. 

[Vayne.8563]

I love this instance.  I'd run it just for fun if there were reason to. I've helped guildies with it a number of times and would be happy to help and explain it if you like.

The first boss is fairly straight forward. Kite the add and stay out of the circles.

The second boss had these sort of bubbles you need to use to damage it.  That means picking up a bubble and carrying it into the glowing circle on the vortexes. They have a glowing circle on them. You simply get the bubble on you and stand on the vortex crystal. There are two important things to remember. First, one you pick up a bubble, your health goes down to 1 point. Anything that hits you will instantly kill you. So get a bubble, dodge way  from danger and stand on a crystal. When the white circle spawns the crystal is transferred to the vortex and you're safe.  The second thing to remember is that you shouldn't hit the boss or the crystals until all the vortexes are populated with bubbles. Every time the boss casts the big orange circle (you can stand in it, it barely hurts), a bubble will spawn.  Just pick it up, run to a vortex, wait for the white circle and repeat. When ALL the vortex crystals are populated with bubbles, shoot the bubbles as fast as you can (ranged weapons are better for this). It's the only way to damage the boss.

 

The third boss has adds that have shields for ten seconds and then you can kill them. Each add will give you a buff. On your buff bar you can see it, red, blue or green.  Then interact with the pillar of the same color. You'll get a shield that will allow you to stand in the darkened area that would normally kill you for a short period of time. Just watch when you're hitting the boss that you watch the icon for the shield, because when it starts flashing get out. That stuff will down you FAST.  Repeat this, killing the add, getting the buff until the boss is dead.  If you do good DPS you can probably do it pretty quickly but even a less skilled player can complete it by taking longer, as long as they get out of the contaminated area before the shield disappears.

 

The final boss combines everything you've learned so far. There are three phases here, and the first two are identical. You simply pick up a bubble, at which point you can die to anything,. put it on a vortex crystal and shoot it to damage the boss. You have to do that twice in a row, before the next phase spawns.  Keep in mind Marjory will be on the vortex crystal if you can't find it.

 

The third phase is a contaminated circle again and you have a vortex and an add. Kill the add which gives you a brief buff that let's you pick up the bubble and interact with the vortex. The only thing is, some of the bubbles will be on dangerous ground, so be patient. Get a bubble, kill the add, interact with the vortex, which will take the bubble, then shoot the bubble and you damage the boss 12 percent. The three phases repeat until the boss is dead.

Hope this helps.

[Manasa Devi.7958]

24 minutes ago, Vayne.8563 said:

The second thing to remember is that you shouldn't hit the boss or the crystals until all the vortexes are populated with bubbles. Every time the boss casts the big orange circle (you can stand in it, it barely hurts), a bubble will spawn.  Just pick it up, run to a vortex, wait for the white circle and repeat. When ALL the vortex crystals are populated with bubbles, shoot the bubbles as fast as you can (ranged weapons are better for this). It's the only way to damage the boss.

Why all at once? I destroy every vortex right after "bubbling" them, works fine.

[Vayne.8563]

1 hour ago, Manasa Devi.7958 said:

Why all at once? I destroy every vortex right after "bubbling" them, works fine.

Because it's just as fast as doing it all at once and they're an achievement for it. Also, the long the fight goes on the harder it actually gets. More skilled players won't have a problem with that, but some people do. Destroying them all at once means the boss dies in seconds, rather than having to wait for him to go through his attacks and get powerful. He won't have a chance to hurt you.

I've done it both ways and though it takes a bit longer, it's much much easier to put all of them on first. Obviously it takes more patience.

[Amanda Whitemoon.6173]

dont forget the telegraph for the facet of darkness attack is backwards, so you think your safe, standing away from the triangle telegraph, but it actually does hit you and possible one shot if you hold the fragile buff atm

[synk.6907]

On 6/14/2021 at 5:13 AM, Amanda Whitemoon.6173 said:

dont forget the telegraph for the facet of darkness attack is backwards, so you think your safe, standing away from the triangle telegraph, but it actually does hit you and possible one shot if you hold the fragile buff atm

 

haha, yeah. I had forgotten this one until I re-played through for these new achievements. That guy's a tricky one, like putting on a left turn signal and going right! But we're on to his games.

 

edit:  but seriously how has that not been fixed?

 

On 6/9/2021 at 4:47 AM, Galmac.4680 said:

I'm really afraid of perhaps having to do the migraine story part again...

 

None of these new Return to... achievements have required the completion of any of the original achievements, so if there is ever a set made for HoT I doubt it will include things like Migraine. That was the only one I never completed solo, sure was a headache!

Edited June 19, 2021 by synk.6907

[Amanda Whitemoon.6173]

isnt migraine the heart of thorns achivement for the Hard Mode Mordremoth? 

these achivements are about return to living world right, not the expansions themselves