Delita Silverburg.8632

Circling back to this post I created, and I can see that there is a lot of diversified opinions on the subject. Thanks for all the discussion everyone! I've been giving this some thought myself as well, and I think one of the reasons why many of us are frustrated is that we only got 2 encounters this year. I was kind of expecting the devs to be able to push out many more bosses with the Strikes model. SInce it's just 1 room with a boss with mechanics, I really expected to see upwards of 6 different encounters a year. I get that it takes a TON of dev cost to create a whole Raid wing, with the environment, story, encounter and even adding CM mechanics. But since they are just reusing assets from the main story of the expacs, I really thought we'd get way more than TWO encounters a year... I think that's the core of the issue, because if either of the two are bad to the main community interested in 10 person instanced content, you're going to find many more people upset. People are already mad that Raids have been abandoned for strikes, but it feels like even more of a kick in the stomach to only get 2 encounters and lets be honest, one is extremely lackluster of just "random bs mechanics go" (aka if I have to spread one more time for dagda im just gonna lose my mind and gg) and the other is currently the equivalent of "running your head into a brick wall for 80+ hours of progression" knowing full well you aren't going to get a kill. But if say, we had 4-6 encounters instead, we'd be able to pick and choose which ones to put on farm and which ones we'd want to clear just once for a title/achievement. I think it's a big talking point for Anet to think about imo.

I really appreciate the feedback from everyone on this post; and for those that happened to agree with my perspective, you've given me some sense of confidence that I'm not the only one confused here. So thanks for that. And for those that don't necessarily agree with my position, I understand where you are coming from to some extent, but my goal will always be to try to find a middle ground that hopefully the devs might read to affect what they create as an experience for us as their players (customers, really) that could perhaps make the majority happy. My concern with encounters such as HTCM and ToFCM, is that they seem to cater to a very VERY small subset of our 10 person instanced content community. My group doesn't even want to start progression on the off chance it might get nerfed to a more reasonable clear level. There is no hype anymore. 😞 I would love to either see more than 2 strikes a year to give us more options on what to tackle weekly, and an implementation of more titles as extreme difficulty. My group of players ONLY do 10 person content at this point, so for us this is a very important topic.

Very good points, but when I say this is what the players want, it's definitely my opinion on the subject. based on conversations I've had with several others. Not necessarily just one person's opinion, but a collective of, at the very least my group of friends I am playing with. (so a very small sample of approx 20-30 ppl) As for the solution itself that I proposed, it covers multiple levels of experience from casual players to the hardcore extremists that loved HTCM. Truth be told though, if you look at metrics collected on even gw2efficiency, we're talking less than 1% of registered accounts have cleared HTCM at this point (Including those who just bought a clear, and those with alt accounts that should really count as 1 person). As for marketing to ppl outside the player base, that is what I was define as extremely concerning given that while it might create some small buzz, it's not healthy long term as I've already seen streamers who used to promote GW2 daily moving to other MMO platforms due to the nature of the content and community's opinion on 10 person content from various sources.

I think challenging content is just fine. I refer you back to my point 3 of my post for what I believe is a good way to have both extremely challenging and still clearable content.

I've decided to make this post after watching for the past few days the iterative process of Temple of Febe CM. (HP Bug, bug fix with teeny tiny nerf, content still basically unclearable.) I'll start with the TLDR: Who exactly are you designing this new content for? Seems like this is designed for the top 1% of the top1% and no one else. Dedicated raiders who like to clear CMs each week, don't want to touch this thing. You have to be extremely dedicated in progression, and even with that have some unrealistic dps check to reach. Firstly, I want to encourage friendly discussion around this topic from the people who might choose to comment on my post here, and with that said, let's get into it. I think there is a very real fear from this past week for us as enjoyers of 10 person instanced content. Let's give this a quick rundown, then I will identify in my opinion the real concern I have with the nature of this. The challenge mode of Temple of Febe was released this week. The content has basically the exact same mechanics. But you have to respect them now. Most mechanics are the exact same with maybe a larger area, or more hp, or you have to touch an orb twice instead of just once. We got exactly 2 new strikes this year. Half as much as EoD, and 1/3 as much as Icebrood saga. Raids are nowhere to be seen, and we have to now purchase an expac every year, just for TWO new encounters? A CM vs a NM with no new mechanics means to us that it is one encounter, not two. It also says to us, that no dev time went into the CM. It's extremely disappointing almost to the point of not wanting to buy the next expac, which I can't see as a good business focus for the company. Now after the top tier players have tried this content, they can't clear it. Initially the boss had 4x the HP of Dhuum CM. (160 million) Granted, this was a bug, but after the patch to fix said bug, it's now still at 144M. Why? It makes no sense. The point here is. your normal raid group isn't clearing this. Heck as of typing this, the best attempt is 21% HP remaining, and this is by the top tier groups. People that put dozens of hours of practice in. Respectable? Absolutely! Realistic? Not even close. What I don't get, is why the dev team has moved away from the concept of NM is really easy for 80-90% of people doing the content, CM is doable for 40-50% of players & if you want a REAL challenge, add a title. The perfect example for this is Xunlai Junkyard. This has what I would define as 3 difficulty modes. NM, CM & Gazed into the Void. This was a marvelously designed encounter (save for all the unnecessary running between the 3 zones) because it can cater to anyone in your player base. THIS is what we should see more of, not Harvest Temple CM, or now Temple of Febe CM. THIS is what your players really want. My final note of criticism, is around time. I firmly believe that an encounter should take no more than 8 minutes in 10 person instanced content on average. Anything that goes beyond that leads to significant fatigue on a player. The most egregious example of this is Kaineng Overlook. and the CM of this encounter is even worse, primarily because the mechanics stack up towards the end of the fight. For my group of players, this encounter was easy all the way until the final platform, then one critical mistake and you kill half the group and have to start over. IMO, this is also a poor design choice. It leads to groups like mine, which are experienced and capable, but not the top top 1%, saying "Lets just take this one out of our rotation." I guess to summarize my overall point of this post, I just don't understand the core philosophy of the dev team when it comes to strikes? You go from Completely easy like Mai Trin / Cosmic Observatory to basically flipping the "No one is clearing this switch" with Temple of Febe / Harvest Temple CM. Weren't these supposed to funnel people to raids and be the stepping stone? I am pretty demoralized personally as to how I can justify the next expac given the state of Strikes as they are now. There were definitely some glimmers of hope throughout them that I do believe a good solution does exist for the whole community, but I am so confused by what has been presented that I'm unsure what to think. Would love to hear other's thoughts or if I'm on an island alone with this. Thanks for reading.

The trick here is that we aren't gonna get new especs in full. We basically are getting 1/3 of the epec with the new expac, and next year's "combat enhancement" will be a new set of utility skills for each profession and finally a year after that we'll get the next "combat enhancement" as a new trait line. Thus completing the 3-year cycle that leads to a single espec in the cost of 3x as much for us via being forced to buy all 3 expacs to unlock it all. Maybe I'm a cynic, but after waiting over 4 years for Wing 8 from Wing 7 release, I think at this point we deserve a bit of distrust in the devs.

There is if the only end game content you care about is raids, which, by all proof from Anet are dead now with the whole strike mission nonsense they keep pushing.

The problem is that it's not as interesting as people are thinking it is. You get no new utility skills, no traits, no new ways to play the game other than a change in base weapon skills, and in some cases it's just 3 different skills. (Revenant - Scepter) You don't change your build, you don't change your gear. It's patchwork and/or smoke and mirrors at best and honestly a non change in many cases due to the fact there will still be a meta weapon per spec and unless they overtune the heck out of the new weapon to function in all specs, it'll still be that Sword/Sword is still best on Herald for example.

Elite specs have always come with a new weapon so people have been getting that since HoT. Given that weapon animations / graphics are already in the library for the game and don't require a ton to add to an existing class, I'd say it's rather easy to say it's the publishers doing this. Get content out faster so we can make more money is always what business is about in the digital space.

I'd love to hear why you think weapon combos are better than a new class elite specialization? As for thinking they might feel samey, I can go to ChatGPT and ask them for 5 new elite spec ideas for say necro and it will pop out suggestions that feel both unique and interesting as things for an idea board. Using an existing example, to me the concept of the Deadeye felt super unique on Thief gameplay with the introduction of the kneeling aspect. Whereas, if I just got a rifle to use on say Daredevil and core thief, I would have felt like. Meh, it's just a new weapon and offers nothing in terms of new utility or support to a squad or game function. Just a new weapon on the same elite spec traits is what I would define as "samey".

I guess for me, it was worth bringing up today as I think just new weapons to use is a poor substitute. It's no different than how strike missions are a poor substitute to an actual raid and once again, imo a bandaid fix by a dev team pressured by publishers to create content that is faster to make to increase the bottom line for the bean counters.

I'm curious where everyone stands on this rather hot button topic. Lets see how everyone is feeling!

If it meant forgoing story for a raid wing, I'm in 1000000%. I can't like this poll enough.

The majority of people might not realize that the sound of people eating, and specifically slurping, causes a literal fight or flight response in a non zero portion of humanity. I ask that you take the sound this item makes out completely as it causes people like myself to literally rage at our computers or run away from the situation entirely. This being heard by ppl afking for a meta event, or showing off their new chair purchase next to banks, trade post, etc., means that due to a mental tic, I am forced to change my plans or adjust what I'm doing as a result. Now I get that you can say things like "suck it up" or that's "your problem", but that's easy for people with a normal neurotypical brain to say, but for those that can't control how our bodies react, it just plain sucks. Things like this do not belong in our games we use to escape from our normal lives. Thanks for listening and have a good day.

Actually the reason the strikes take as long as they do is due to the significant increase in mechanics that keep you running around the arena off the main boss as opposed to a dps check. The mechanics are also pretty rng heavy to boot because you have to communicate effectively or you end up wiping forcing even more need for voice channels such as discord. Mai Trin CM for example has random green circles where you assign 3 teams and have to quickly call out your team number to make sure not to over stack the debuffs or it's a wipe (terrible design because the wipe isn't instant either, so people could be inevitably dead without realizing if no voice comms). The EoD strikes just feel like a complete mess where the devs were like "let's just overload this thing with a ton of mechanics all at the same time that make people run around in order to make the content seem more fleshed out." Which instead leads to a literal cluster****. It's just diarrhea rainbows on the screen. Bad design. My static will only touch the 2 easy strike CMs from EoD each week and calls it a day as the last 2 are just too long and people would rather spend their time doing a whole wing (wing 4, for example, takes as long as Kaineng Overlook CM), meaning one boring long encounter vs 4. which to people makes you feel more accomplished even if it's the same amount of rewards.) Strikes genuinely just feel bad, long and quite frankly as a waste of time even if you clear them. TLDR: Raiders want raids, not more strikes; because they are at best a shadow of what makes raids amazing.