Champions - A general consensus

[Narsilik Khilsigre.9453]

So, I figured I would get back into the game and finish up the story thread for the living story (most of which I have mixed feelings about).  I don't want to be negative, but since starting Chapter 5: Champions, I feel like this is the most grueling slog I have ever done in this game.. and I have a few legendaries under my belt from before most of the QoL updates.  What it seems to boil down to is 4 chapters of mini-dungeons that become more and more grueling as it goes on.  When I finally decided to look at my progress to see where I was, I found I was just barely at the end of sub-chapter 2.  Regardless of my ranting, I find it hard to believe anyone enjoyed this, but if there was, can you explain how?  I've been playing mostly by myself or with PUGs if they join my session and, while I feel the PUGs help move things along a bit quicker, I feel like they ANet went overboard with these and I'm just doing a repetitive motion over and over and over again.  Am I wrong in this?  Does it get better?

I was considering picking up the expansion as I've been a long time Guild Wars fan, but I feel like I'm being turned off by this game more and more each time I come back to it.  Maybe I'm outgrowing it, I don't know.  But if there's any redeeming quality in this, please tell me now.

[Linken.6345]

No but atleast you can do it and get it done quickly.

 

The rest of us who played it at release was drip fed parts of it over half a year.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

1 hour ago, Narsilik Khilsigre.9453 said:

So, I figured I would get back into the game and finish up the story thread for the living story (most of which I have mixed feelings about).  I don't want to be negative, but since starting Chapter 5: Champions, I feel like this is the most grueling slog I have ever done in this game.. and I have a few legendaries under my belt from before most of the QoL updates.  What it seems to boil down to is 4 chapters of mini-dungeons that become more and more grueling as it goes on.  When I finally decided to look at my progress to see where I was, I found I was just barely at the end of sub-chapter 2.  Regardless of my ranting, I find it hard to believe anyone enjoyed this, but if there was, can you explain how?  I've been playing mostly by myself or with PUGs if they join my session and, while I feel the PUGs help move things along a bit quicker, I feel like they ANet went overboard with these and I'm just doing a repetitive motion over and over and over again.  Am I wrong in this?  Does it get better?

I was considering picking up the expansion as I've been a long time Guild Wars fan, but I feel like I'm being turned off by this game more and more each time I come back to it.  Maybe I'm outgrowing it, I don't know.  But if there's any redeeming quality in this, please tell me now.

You probably entered in Public, since you said other players were able to join. Public instances use different scaling than Private (Story) instances, so you just made it harder on yourself. In Story Mode you should be able to clear each of the missions in about the same time as any other story mission, unless your build's poor.

 

The talking slows it down a bit but no more than the usual cutscenes in other missions.

 

Think of DRMs like a combination Personal Story & (mini)dungeon combined. The difficulty's determined by which mode you select and how many players enter with you.

 

Extra tip: United Legions Waystations work too.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Hannelore.8153

[Fueki.4753]

To me, Champions is by far the worst content Arenanet created for GW2.

 

I think it's so bad, that abruptly ending the Icebrood Saga and going into a content drought until EoD would have been superior.

Champions just spilled over lore and potentially positive lore and left behind a fetid trail of do-not-want-to-touch-again.

 

My best advice for Champions is to just turn off the game's sounds and listen to music or some documentary (if you are into that) in the background. That way you can at least get some value out of the time spend for Champions.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Fueki.4753

[voltaicbore.8012]

It seems very few of us liked Champions as a whole, even if we might have enjoyed certain aspects of it here and there. I personally think it's the absolute worst content I've seen. Sure, we can make all manner of excuses for why it turned out that way, but none of that changes the fact that it's just... deeply inferior.

 

That said, I wouldn't let Champions scare you away from the new xpac. Champions and the Icebrood Saga turned out the way they did specifically because they were Living World content being falsely marketed to us as "expansion-like" content. In contrast, proper expansions have always been impressive. HoT and PoF stand head and shoulders above living world releases, and I expect EoD to be much the same.

[Faridah.8431]

3 hours ago, Fueki.4753 said:

To me, Champions is by far the worst content Arenanet created for GW2.

100%. And then separating it out into 4 parts just made it an absolute slog to get through. DRM has to be some of the least inspired content put out in recent years next to fixing signs in Season 1.

[Obtena.7952]

OP isn't entirely off on his assessment. The IBS 5 DRM's feel very repetitive because they all look like they were created from a template and too similar. Assets are re-used and it all feels very familiar ... and some unnecessarily long like Fireheart Rise. IBS 5 just feels like a 'How do we do this on the cheap?' I mean, DRM's would be OK as content ... just not like ... 12 in a row?

[Linken.6345]

1 hour ago, Faridah.8431 said:

100%. And then separating it out into 4 parts just made it an absolute slog to get through. DRM has to be some of the least inspired content put out in recent years next to fixing signs in Season 1.

Dont remind me of the signs please. :)

[misterman.1530]

Wow. Search actually works in this new forum. Came here to see if anyone else felt the same way I do.

 

Been away for months, came back obviously, and decided to continue the Living Story. Holy slog-fest. For extra, added fun I'm doing it on a character with NO stability - so that Destroyer of the Last Forge (or whatever) fight was me getting ping-ponged around the area. I thought, great, must be almost done - and...noooope. Still in Chapter 2 (Jormag's World). Please, please someone tell me it gets better - or at least different. And...oh...I love the new currency you need to unlock masteries. That was a freaking stroke of genius (/sarcasm). So now not only do you have to unlock Insights, you have to farm currency to buy the crystals to unlock the masteries. Bravo.

Edit: Oh, and Braham is such a whiner. 

Edited July 31, 2021 by misterman.1530

[hostileskeleton.7364]

Really relieved I am not the only one who thought the DRMs were awful. Not only is it bad content, I think this is the worst gaming experience I have ever had.

 

Idk if my class or build is wrong for these segments but I play any new content on my thief the first time thru. I do hardly any damage to the minibosses and they drop me in 1-3 hits. I've tried swapping between dd/deadeye builds and these fights continue to be a slog. I can handle a tough fight if it's fun but these obviously aren't. I stopped playing GW2 entirely for a couple weeks because I was only about 70% thru the DRMs and the whole experience soured me on playing for a while. Now I'm trying again and it feels like ANET intended for players to hate it. I would rather do the entire skyscale collection again over this drivel. 

I'm wondering if this is a result of COVID forcing the devs to make MAJOR cuts to the story. They were missing just the voice acting from the earlier chapters but I imagine that comes last anyway so chapter 5 is where we feel the programming/writing sacrifices. Regardless, with the way they structure content, I'm glad players can skip this chapter when EoD releases. Not worth the wasted time.

 

 

Speaking of wasted time, let's say it takes the NPC's about 10 mins to take 1% off the bosses health. I am currently on the Frost Colossus at 49% health. If I just leave my computer running while I'm in a downed state, they should have the Colossus down in about 8 hours. Not counting the stages before the boss fights, I should have this shitshow done in about 2 days. I think I'll let the tengu handle this one cuz I get absolutely nothing out of doing it myself.

[Fueki.4753]

9 minutes ago, hostileskeleton.7364 said:

Speaking of wasted time, let's say it takes the NPC's about 10 mins to take 1% off the bosses health. I am currently on the Frost Colossus at 49% health. If I just leave my computer running while I'm in a downed state, they should have the Colossus down in about 8 hours. Not counting the stages before the boss fights, I should have this shitshow done in about 2 days. I think I'll let the tengu handle this one cuz I get absolutely nothing out of doing it myself.

Have you tried to keep the bonfires lit and standing near them?

I've seen quite some people who didn't do that.

[hostileskeleton.7364]

2 minutes ago, Fueki.4753 said:

Have you tried to keep the bonfires lit and standing near them?

I've seen quite some people who didn't do that.

I light the bonefires. The fights are the most boring I've ever played and way too long. I play on the west coast of the US late at night because of work so I'll have no luck finding a group. Not much I can do other than let the npcs chip away.

[misterman.1530]

 

3 hours ago, hostileskeleton.7364 said:

Speaking of wasted time, let's say it takes the NPC's about 10 mins to take 1% off the bosses health. I am currently on the Frost Colossus at 49% health. If I just leave my computer running while I'm in a downed state, they should have the Colossus down in about 8 hours. Not counting the stages before the boss fights, I should have this shitshow done in about 2 days. I think I'll let the tengu handle this one cuz I get absolutely nothing out of doing it myself.

 

Oh, I agree. Watching Braham struggle with a Destroyer Burster, of all things, is downright painful. Those things die in like 1-2 hits, but not via an NPC. Braham constantly grunting with extreme effort is funny for the first 20 min. Then it just gets tedious and annoying.

[Narsilik Khilsigre.9453]

So, I finally made it through all the "dungeons" like I was on constant repeat.  My build wasn't "poor" but I was playing a druid and finally changed my build for something a little more offensive.  I would switch back when I joined public sessions and generally, the public sessions tended to go faster regardless as I wasn't trying to do all the side objectives myself.

I got to the big dragon... nay, dragon champion battle and felt that it was a little more epic than I expected given the rest of the content, but it was fairly shortly lived.  At least it felt like all the accompanying NPCs were doing... some damage.

 

Then... to finish the story you have to go back again.  Not a big deal, but now it is locked to squad play and I need 35 people, JUST TO FINISH STORY CONTENT!?  Why!?  No one is even playing this anymore, or at least not 35 people's worth.  So now, instead of playing the game, I have to find a third-party LFG site or sit for hours on end with the game's LFG with slim to little chance of filling a whole squad.  I knew I was glutton for punishment, but who thought this would be a great idea?  This is just too much.

 

Edit: Nevermind.  It doesn't let you continue to the story unless you step up to the marker from a certain angle since it and Brek share the same trigger space.

Edited August 2, 2021 by Narsilik Khilsigre.9453

[Linken.6345]

1 hour ago, Narsilik Khilsigre.9453 said:

So, I finally made it through all the "dungeons" like I was on constant repeat.  My build wasn't "poor" but I was playing a druid and finally changed my build for something a little more offensive.  I would switch back when I joined public sessions and generally, the public sessions tended to go faster regardless as I wasn't trying to do all the side objectives myself.

I got to the big dragon... nay, dragon champion battle and felt that it was a little more epic than I expected given the rest of the content, but it was fairly shortly lived.  At least it felt like all the accompanying NPCs were doing... some damage.

 

Then... to finish the story you have to go back again.  Not a big deal, but now it is locked to squad play and I need 35 people, JUST TO FINISH STORY CONTENT!?  Why!?  No one is even playing this anymore, or at least not 35 people's worth.  So now, instead of playing the game, I have to find a third-party LFG site or sit for hours on end with the game's LFG with slim to little chance of filling a whole squad.  I knew I was glutton for punishment, but who thought this would be a great idea?  This is just too much.

 

Edit: Nevermind.  It doesn't let you continue to the story unless you step up to the marker from a certain angle since it and Brek share the same trigger space.

You are quite wrong about none playing it, since it have a chance to drop a infusion there is plenty of people doing it.

 

There is a public option ever odd hour on the dot you can use to enter and be matched with up t 80 people.

 

You can also replay story mission to get the achievements done now, something you could not do at release. ( this reply story do not have a chance to drop infusion)

Edited August 2, 2021 by Linken.6345

[Faridah.8431]

14 hours ago, Narsilik Khilsigre.9453 said:

Then... to finish the story you have to go back again.  Not a big deal, but now it is locked to squad play and I need 35 people, JUST TO FINISH STORY CONTENT!?  Why!?

Definitely not true.

 

I see you figured out how to do the story version. For the regular version, there is a Public option every 2 hours on the odd hour and lots of people do it as there are chances for an Infusion drop, among other things, and like a daily gives you 2 gold on completion.

[Randulf.7614]

First rule of Guild Wars club - we don't talk about Champions release

Second rule of Guild Wars club - we don't talk about Champions release

[Aulis Vaara.7083]

On 7/30/2021 at 8:39 PM, Obtena.7952 said:

I mean, DRM's would be OK as content ... just not like ... 12 in a row?

^ I think this is the most important takeaway. I think DRM's are actually decent content, but they are a) all feeling the same, and doing the same 10 times in a row is not my idea of fun; and b) they are all Primordus and Jormag, if they had jumped back into the past and given us even just one per old dragon (Zhaitan, Mordremoth, Kralkatorrik; also pun was intended) that would've broken the monotony some. Just because the story is at some place right now, doesn't mean they can't fill out the past a little bit more (see Marionette or Vision Of The Past for examples).