Archive for the Dungeons Category

Are rangers actually under-powered?

Posted 09/05/13 by

It got crowded in the elevator

It got crowded in the elevator

I’ve heard it a few times lately… rangers with pets are terrible in dungeons. Rangers with pets are no good in small places. A ranger without a pet is just worthless. And so on. This leads to rangers not trying to get into difficult content, and/or not being accepted/invited to play there. Fortunately, I’m in a great guild where people can join in activities with whatever profession they want, so getting a team of rangers wasn’t difficult.

Now I know from my psychology/statistics work that people can develop incorrect beliefs. I noticed in forums that many of the complaints came from rangers who don’t play their rangers in difficult places (because they’re so underpowered, why bother). And there is the common assumption that rangers are underpowered because their pets die, and they are weak without their pets. And then, as supporting evidence, I’ve heard of people turning down rangers when making groups.

But here’s a different theory: rangers are just as good as any other profession, and the only thing they need is someone to undo the bad rep they’ve been getting.

Two competing hypotheses… It’s time for some science!

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The Molting Alliance

Posted 30/04/13 by
Fire blender of hurt

Fire blender of hurt

If you just came out of coma as I did, it may seem that a new story dungeon has just appeared out of nowhere! But no! Apparently there’s this cool extended ad going on in Guild Wars 2 (they called it living story) that has been playing for a while to announce this new dungeon.

So I was willingly grabbed and coerced into this story dungeon thingy that has you fight some silly creatures with pointy hats and some cats on fire. Hey, it’s a fantasy game, whatever goes. And I like those flaming kittens. Here’s my review.

Note: The Molten Facility dungeon will be available until Sunday, May 12 at 12:00pm Pacific

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10 Tips to playing Guild Wars 2 better

Posted 25/04/13 by

Thief is a good profession to learn to play.

Thief is a good profession to learn to play.

I create the opportunity for learning, so that I can keep improving. I do that by seeking ways to challenge myself on specific gameplay skills. Here’s 10 ways you can use to keep learning too.

10 Trigger combos

You can trigger combos by yourself on many professions by using a skill that creates a combo field, then using a skill that triggers it. Self-triggered combos is a good way to learn and practice which of your own skills are what part of a combo. Sometimes, you can combo skills differently to trigger different effects like defensive or offensive effects. Once you learn that, expand your combo knowledge by triggering combos with other players either by triggering their fields, or by setting up fields where they will naturally trigger them.

You can likewise take some time to learn how to combine skill effects. Breaking armors is good just before doing high dps. Or snaring is good before hitting those large AoE’s.

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Flame & Frost Finale and Some PVP Lovin’!

Posted 24/04/13 by

The Flame and Frost page has been updated with highlights of the April 30, 2013, update information.

The standouts are a new Dungeon to tell the final part of the Flame and Frost Living Story, and Custom Arenas and Spectator Mode for the sPVP players.

But you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Godfather.

…you come into my house on the day they release this update, and you uh ask me to do murder, for money.

The new dungeon will feature only one path, and ArenaNet has tried to set the difficulty level between that of the Story and Explorable modes in regular dungeons. However, like the Flame and Frost Living Story, it won’t be in the game forever, so you’ll want to get in there before it’s gone.

They are rolling out Beta versions of the Custom Arenas and Spectator Mode this month too. Initially, only a small group of people will be able to create their own Custom Arenas. Everyone, however, will be able to play in them and use Spectator Mode. Just go to the Mists to check them out.

If that wasn’t enough, there are new WvW abilities, new Guild Mission content, skill balance and more. Check it out and them come to the forums and tell us what you think!

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Endgame: An alt-a-holic’s perspective

Posted 13/02/13 by

I’ve always liked playing different characters, and now that I have a few at max level and with somewhat decent gear, I feel I have some *cough*authority*cough* to talk about what to expect from your characters in endgame. The good news is… the game remains pretty similar to early- or mid-game, so whatever profession you like early on is likely going to be your favourite still later on.

I regularly switch between my so-far 7 characters, and I will eventually have all 8 professions afterall. The main thing that influences who I play though isn’t what profession I like best… I love them all for different reason, and I especially love that they give me different experiences. The main thing that influences my pick is whether I plan to PvE, do dungeons, or do WvW. I find that while each profession can be useful in all three places, some professions adapt better to my playstyle in those different areas…

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Upcoming Changes to Dungeon Mechanics

Posted 29/01/13 by

Check out the latest blog update from ArenaNet with changes coming to dungeons. The big change for Phase 1 will be that defeated players cannot use Waypoints while their party is in combat. Definitely going to require changing up playstyle for some people. See a snapshot below or click through for details on Phase 2. Don’t forget to swing by our forums and let us know your thoughts.

Hey folks, I’m Robert Hrouda, a content designer on Guild Wars 2. In the coming months, we’ll make some changes to dungeon mechanics to make them a more fun and challenging experience. I wanted to give you a heads-up on our plans for phase 1 of our dungeons evolution—specifically, the removal of “res-rushing”—as well as a brief overview of our plans for phase 2.

“Res-rushing” is when a player uses a waypoint to resurrect immediately after being defeated in a dungeon and then runs back to the fight, instead of waiting for their party members to resurrect them.

Dungeons were designed to be highly focused on teamwork. The current res-rushing mechanic discourages the type of behavior we intended when a fellow player goes down. We hope that by eliminating res-rushing, we’ll bring dungeons more in-line with our original design goals, which are based around team play and strategy.

With this upcoming change, defeated players will be unable to use waypoints while their party is in combat. Players will only be able to use waypoints if the party wipes or withdraws from combat.

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Rush’s Guide to Smoother Dungeons

Posted 01/01/13 by

Well hey guys, apologies for the lack of content from me during the past few months. I have been hammering away at school, but now I actually have the free time to write up another handy dandy article!

In this guide, I will be sharing with you my preferred team composition for faster, safer, and smoother dungeon runs. During this guide, you may be all like “Wha? What about this class for this spot”, to which I will reply “Who’s writing the guide, me or you?”. No, that won’t happen, I am too nice to say that, but seriously, keep that stuff to yourself for now.

We’re going to take a step by step look by shoving our metaphorical microscope into each piece of the “smooth dungeon” pie.

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Wintersday Videos & Impressions

Posted 17/12/12 by

Wintersday

No doubt you are all having fun in Wintersday discovering all the new content. Silent Storm has posted some new videos on GWOTV which are well worth checking out, especially the jumping puzzle video.

If you want to share you video with the community head to GWOTV and add it to the ever-growing collection of Guild Wars 2 videos.

In related news, the community has been busy playing this weekend and there is on-going discussion and thoughts on this year’s holiday event. You can read opinions and join in via this thread.

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Dungeons: don’t just zerg, think!

Posted 16/11/12 by

The new "dungeon" is not all indoors

The new “dungeon” is not all indoors

I’ve done a few dungeons now, mostly in pick-up-groups, mostly with people who don’t know the dungeon well. And while we almost always complete the dungeon, here’s a common scenario… we get stuck, we die and wipe a few times, we struggle, we find it’s dumb and frustrating, and we finally succeed. But there’s a pattern to the success… success usually means someone in the team figured out how to beat the task at hand.

We’re about to get a new dungeon added. It has 9 sections, each with its own challenges. It also has a few different bosses. I hope this tutorial on past dungeons will help you prepare for this next dungeon, by giving you the ability to figure out the challenge, and how to beat it.

Why zerg if you can learn to play better?

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Official: Lost Shores is Now Live!

Posted 16/11/12 by

The Lost Shores weekend event is now live! Head to the Wiki for more info or into the game to start enjoying it. Or if you are stuck at work like me, join the discussion in our thread.

A brief list of the game features announced:

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Leah Rivera on the New Fractals of the Mist Dungeon

Posted 15/11/12 by

A new official blog post went up today with some more info on the upcoming Fractals of the Mist dungeon. Some of the info may not be new, but it sure is exciting! Check out a snippet below and click through for the full read.

My team has a mission.

A mission to bring all of you an awesome, high-end dungeon experience that will be challenging, rewarding, and a ton of fun! After a lot of long hours and hard work, I think we’ve accomplished that goal. I’m proud to introduce to you our new dungeon: Fractals of the Mists

This dungeon is unlike anything you’ve played in Guild Wars 2. It’s built of an array of mini-dungeons, which we call fractals. These fractals are slices of the Mists, fragments of time that have been stabilized by the intrepid asura researcher Dessa. Some of these vignettes from history may be familiar to original Guild Wars players, while others will represent previously unseen events. Because of their eclectic origin, each fractal is built as a distinct, separate experience with themes, mechanics, and art specific to that fractal.

- RD

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Exciting Changes to Next Week’s BWE

Posted 29/05/12 by

ArenaNet Concept Art

Just after midnight pacific time this morning, Chris Whiteside became a hero to Guild Wars 2 fans announcing on the ArenaNet blog that a new Beta Weekend Event (BWE) would begin at noon pacific on June 8th.

The article has some exciting news about new content that will be available in this BWE:

Your existing beta characters have not been deleted, and you will be able to continue right where you left off! This means that enterprising players with characters level 35 or higher will be able to test their mettle against the explorable version of the Ascalonian Catacombs dungeon!
-Chris Whiteside

In addition, Whiteside comments that many of the technical issues including party movement into overflow servers, chat, key bindings, server stability and more have been addressed. He promises more details on these improvements in the coming days leading up to the event.

Also, if you or your friends have not pre-purchased Guild Wars 2, there is a way for you to participate in this beta:

For those who haven’t yet pre-purchased Guild Wars 2, you’ll still have a chance to play in the beta. We’re teaming up with our partners to give away keys for Beta Weekend Event 2, so follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest news.
-Chris Whiteside

There are sure to only be a limited number of these special beta keys available, so if you or your friends are hoping to nab one, be sure to follow GUild Wars 2 closely on Facebook and/or Twitter.

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