With the Marionette event on the horizon, do you remember...

[Omega.6801]

...how exactly it was possible for a few players to fail the event for everyone participating?

I really liked this event back in the days. We had to "guest" on servers for PvE stuff, waited for maybe 30min between runs and everyone had a great time. But I have a feint memory of instances that failed, because of a few players either not knowing what to do or simply trolling. I don't remember exactly what the issues was. I think it must have had something to do with the way groups were made once the "lane defense"-part was over and the event moved on to the actual marionette fight. Can any of you still remember and maybe know what was the issue?

Bonus question: Do you think ANet has adjusted the event for this release?

[Raknar.4735]

Lane phase was never over, the players defending the lane were let through to the 5 platforms via portal (similiar to how Silverwastes works, just with 5 lanes instead of 3).

To successfully complete the event, the platform event had to be completed 5 times (each successful completion severed one chain the marionette was bound to).

 

Each platform held 5(?) players. They had to defeat some minions (some immune to damage from behind) and then some machinery (condi immune object). One platform failing meant the whole lane failing on the attempt to sever one chain.

 

So there were multiple things that could go wrong:

• Undermanned platforms due to lack of players, either total players or not enough in one lane
• Players that weren't able to beat the twisted nightmare enemies (not focusing menders healing the others, not doing enough damage, not rezzing downed people)
• Running out of time on the platforms, as the game was new and many didn't have great builds/ stats (some were still running magic find gear or pvt gear for example)

 

Edit: Thought I should also add that you weren't really able to help out the other platforms after clearing your one, so you effectively had to wait and hope the other platform teams were able to get their job done on their own. Anet already said that with the new version you're able to at least "cheer" and share boons now.

 

As for more adjustments I'll quote Anet: 

We’ve preserved the flow of this highly requested encounter, with some adjustments to bring it up to our current design standards. (Source)

Edited July 8, 2021 by Raknar.4735

[Blude.6812]

kitten . I forgot all about that (fails because of a few, guesting, and the lanes). In answer to the bonus question----Yes I hope Anet has figured out AND made the changes needed to deal with it.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

From the video, it looked different than I remember (some of the Marionette's attacks).  But...I could just have a faulty memory.  It's been a really long time. 

[Astralporing.1957]

1 hour ago, lokh.2695 said:

...how exactly it was possible for a few players to fail the event for everyone participating?

Oh, yes. Very well.

1 hour ago, lokh.2695 said:

I really liked this event back in the days. We had to "guest" on servers for PvE stuff, waited for maybe 30min between runs and everyone had a great time. But I have a feint memory of instances that failed, because of a few players either not knowing what to do or simply trolling. I don't remember exactly what the issues was. I think it must have had something to do with the way groups were made once the "lane defense"-part was over and the event moved on to the actual marionette fight. Can any of you still remember and maybe know what was the issue?

It depended on which exact platform phase the battle was happening (there were five, and each had different mechanics). I am not going to describe the latest phases (and especially not how they could be trolled, because i know someone would consider it an invitation), but the most clearcut case was the first battle. It was with a mob that could only be damaged from behind. So, if the mob ended up with its back to the edge of the arena, and front to the middle, the options to damage it became very, very limited.

Problem is, it often aggroed on pets. Especially when you had a bearbow on platform (for some reason bears were a good aggro magnet). You didn't even have to troll the encounter - just not knowing the mechanic was enough (especially then, when tanking the mob was not something you've seen often in gw2, or actually ever in case of most players).

Ranger pets, btw, were the most common bane of all of the Marionette mechanics - they could mess up at least some of the others as well.

 

1 hour ago, lokh.2695 said:

Bonus question: Do you think ANet has adjusted the event for this release?

I certainly hope so.  One thing that i expect should introduce at least some variations is breakbars - they do work a bit differently now after all. Also, most rangers are now Soulbeasts, and thus have pets stowed, which should also reduce the impact of those original issues.

[Astralporing.1957]

42 minutes ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

From the video, it looked different than I remember (some of the Marionette's attacks).  But...I could just have a faulty memory.  It's been a really long time. 

I also don't remember the one that put aoe chain all over the platforms, but from what i remember the attack pattern depended on how many uncut chains remained.

[Omega.6801]

Thanks for the refresh. Memories are coming back. The one mechanic, where you needed to hit the mob from behind had some sort of tanking, maybe toughnes - maybe random, that could mess up the encounter. I also remember than you could hit mobs on other plattforms, but only with the old guard staff AA(RIP lootstick, you are missed).
 

I think they will have many things sorted out tbh. Many things have improved, like the way the game interacts with minions/pets for example. Also I think that players in general have improved over time. Something that has become clear to me during these last weeks of  "Return to..." content. But that's a different thread. I just hope that "bringing it up to our current design standards" does not boil down to "plaster every inch of the plattform with one-shot AoE" or seizure inducing levels of mechanics/tells and visuals. Something on par with maybe Tequatl, just below Tri-Wurm levels of open world difficulty would be nice.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

1 hour ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

I also don't remember the one that put aoe chain all over the platforms, but from what i remember the attack pattern depended on how many uncut chains remained.

Yes, that's the part I thought was new, as well.

[Omega.6801]

7 minutes ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Yes, that's the part I thought was new, as well.

Just watched the video and I remember that attack. The platforms were on different levels so the attacks of the mob varied from tier to tier. I remember on the lowest tier there was an attack where the marionette just stomped all over the platforms leaving big AoEs.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

That's not the part I thought we were discussing.