Why does it get a million times harder?

[JUN YANG.4328]

Map exploring, story,  mastery points, those are entry level of the game. to get you to know more about your build /skill play style of your character.  if you get struggle. always look up Gw2 wiki, youtube video or ask for help on map channel.     

[Mungrul.9358]

Returning last year after an absence of 7 years, I took my core warrior hambow through all the content I'd missed; LW seasons 2 through to Icebrood Saga, and both HoT and PoF.

 

I still had my Juggernaut from before I left, but otherwise my gear was initially all exotic Soldier's, until I changed to exotic Celestial during HoT (yeah, I was trying to play without looking at guides, gold was limited and I tried to make builds I thought would work. DOH).

 

At times, it was painful, and a lot of the story missions either required throwing bodies at the content to get through, or tanking for an excruciating amount of time (I seem to remember the Mordremoth  battle, excluding the stuff before, taking over 45 minutes).

 

But I got through all of it, then started working on ascended gear and taking inspiration from Metabattle.

 

And recently I took my fully ascended Viper's Scepter / Pistol Mirage through the same content.

The difference was night and day.

Partly it was improved awareness of the environment.

Partly it was playing a more ranged character, so being able to more easily stay out of AoE.

Partly it was experience with the mechanics of builds and coming up with one that suited my playstyle.

And finally, it was to do with playing a profession that's more effective than Warrior, as well as a specialisation that's noticeably more powerful than most core builds.

 

That's not to say that there weren't still moments when the game just decided it was going to kill me, no matter how well I played.

But the experience was a LOT smoother.