Fractured! - November 26th patch (3 new Fractals and more)

[Meledelion]

Mel, you were always mewling about how the levels didn't mean anything after 20 remember? That no new mechanics had been added? I'm sure I can go back and find those posts of yours. Why should you get credit for completing something that hasn't even been launched yet?

I think they should give something to those that completed the old fractals above 30 but to expect to hold your place for new ones is silly.

I'm aware of my long lost posts, I'm trying to tell you that it doesn't matter when you step in if the intended step in point is below your skill level.

Let's say that you have done FotM 1 and Fotm 28 (just those) and now you have to go back to FotM 10. If you're able to complete FotM 28, you'll be able to complete FotM 10.

I completely understand that there will be some new mechanics, what I'm saying is that if I'm able to step into a dungeon with this new mechanic at a much higher level, I should be rewarded instead of forcing me to just grind all those levels out again.

A reasonable compromise in my eyes would be something close to what Zito thinks is happening. You make it so only your rewards are down-scaled to 30. If you do FotM 10lvls above the level of rewards you advance an extra level in rewards. If you do it 20lvls above the lvl 30 cap you advance two extra levels, and so on.
An example to simplify it a bit: Everyone's rewards are at lvl 30 come patch but you can still enter 30+. If I enter lvl 30 and complete it I get rewards for lvl 30 access to lvl 31 rewards next time and a personal level of 31, If I enter lvl 40 and complete it I get rewards for lvl 30 access to lvl 32 rewards and my personal level remains 40, If I enter lvl 50 and complete it I get rewards for lvl 30 access to lvl 33 rewards and my personal level remains 50.

This way you don't get loot inflation by people like me but we also get a reward for our hard-work in the past.

Every level starting at 31 will have a new instability to conquer. This instability is tied to the fractal level, so it will be the same for all three fractals and the boss, but will be replaced by a new challenge when you move up to a new fractal level.

The only added difficulty comes from one mechanic, knowing the base mechanics of all fractals means that it will probably be some form of penalty that doesn't require you to dodge (most fights are already tuned around having just enough dodges and endurance regen to stay alive).
This means that what we'll get are some sort of debuffs that are annoying like: Constant Weakness, Constant - healing, Constant Cripple, Shorter boon durations, Longer skill CD's, ...

I doubt there will be more than 10 instabilities meaning that at least 8 encounters will be just as much of a grind as the old system.

edit: Yes Maarius like gambits, although Glint/the deep is what popped into my mind

edit2: I know I'm being a tough costumer but imo it's within reason. If your party never quits on you, you don't DC,... it takes a minimum of doing 54 fractals just to go from 30 -> 48. If you've gone higher than 48 to let's say (something within reason) 55 it would be at least 75 fractals. That's 15% of getting the achievement maxed out! (going with the idea that achievements are actual achievements for most people). Each fractal takes around 15minutes if you're with an experienced group so that's 13.5hours wasted, completely wasted. I personally find this a lot.

[zito]

Personal reward level is the same as level you have unlocked

Its not, there just have never been an instance before, nor was it possible, to have a high unlocked level and a low personal reward level.

[Meledelion]

Let's wait for a-net to clear this one up.

[WadeFish]

I wish i had a guild to run Fractals with... RIP haha but I'm pumped for it

[Meledelion]

I've done all fractals with a maximum of 2friends, I got to lvl 48 with only having my brother as a regular.

The difference between having a full group and pug is mainly how fast you're gonna complete FotM (or any dungeon tbh). Meleeing the fire shaman takes considerably less time than ranging, but it requires people to be able to dodge when the boss flies up and when the big red circle appears around him + having enough projectile defense since side-stepping doesn't work in melee.

The current difficulty of FotM is highly overrated, we'll see if the coming change will have a noticeable impact.

[Valeron]

that trailer was better suited when fractals first came out.

I agree here but still, pretty cool trailer

I'm going to have to try some fractals. I've been playing consistently since the first beta weekends have never tried one.

[Karizee]

I agree here but still, pretty cool trailer

I'm going to have to try some fractals. I've been playing consistently since the first beta weekends have never tried one.

Best dungeons in the game imo. I ran them for months but backed off lately as I got all the ascended and fractal weapons I wanted. Looking forward to going back in, my team is primed and ready

[Maarius]

what I don't like about the rewards: the sigil and runes aren't useful for everyone. It's the same bad reward as that gearset for karka-shells. Aweful. Why not new weapon-skins for completing the new challenges ahead? Tonics mostly are not that awesome either imho.

[zito]

Best dungeons in the game imo.

Jelly and mossman are the worst dungeons in the game imo.

Jelly is just... no just stop

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what are the new sigils and runes?

and why the F do they never add them to spvp

[Karizee]

Jelly and mossman are the worst dungeons in the game imo.

Jelly is just... no just stop

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what are the new sigils and runes?

and why the F do they never add them to spvp

From the pre-patch notes page:

Above level 30, this repeatable chest also has a chance to contain a brand new rune or sigil:

• The Rune of Resistance grants bonus toughness, a reduction in condition duration, and aegis upon using a signet
• The Sigil of Momentum grants a stacking toughness buff every time you kill an enemy

[lawow74]

Pretty trailer, don't care about Fractals, the new story instance sounds nice to do once. Not much for me this update, but I hope others who do the Fractal stuff enjoy it.

[Karizee]

Some behind the scenes info from Matthew Oswald, the Cinematics Lead, on how they made the trailer:

Thanks for the nice comments guys.

Here are some “behind the scenes” facts about this cinematic:

The cinematic was built as a prototype for the new video playback technology.

It was made over a year ago, and we planned to launch it with the original Fractal release. Unfortunately, the tech didn’t get implemented in time and we missed the release window. It was decided that we sit on the cinematic trailer until there was a big update to the Fractals.

The 3D character models are (pre)rendered in-engine with our model viewer and matched up with cameras in Maya and After Effects.

While I have special place in my heart for the original GW2 in-engine cinematics (such as the Dugneon Catacombs flashback…a cinematic that I reworked 4 times over the course of development) These new types of pre-rendered videos allow us to work faster, increase the quality, and they perform better on more peoples machines.

There are some pretty exciting cinematics coming in the future…I hope you guys will receive them as well as the Fractals piece.

Thanks again!

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/foru...st#post3227234

[carnifex2005]

Nice change for fractal weapon drops too...

"at higher Fractal levels the weapon skins become more common, and also start dropping in a container that lets you pick the one you want."

[Achaman]

new fractals is nice and all but with the randomness its unlikely youll get to see them much.. if ever and im sure people will still prefer swamp as a starter

plus the "Agony Resist Updates" sounds worrying

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what I don't like about the rewards: the sigil and runes aren't useful for everyone. It's the same bad reward as that gearset for karka-shells. Aweful. Why not new weapon-skins for completing the new challenges ahead? Tonics mostly are not that awesome either imho.

only if they are actual skins and not something you need a stone/crystal for otherwise its just something to salvage or shove into the forge and hope for something less shitty

i got a fractal axe that just sits in my bank because im not going to buy mystic crystals so i can use the skin on something and without stats its just somethin to take the place of actual good stuff you want like weapons chests or a not so shitty ring for an alt

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From the pre-patch notes page:

Above level 30, this repeatable chest also has a chance to contain a brand new rune or sigil:

• The Rune of Resistance grants bonus toughness, a reduction in condition duration, and aegis upon using a signet
• The Sigil of Momentum grants a stacking toughness buff every time you kill an enemy

why.. after checking tons of forums and shit about toughness causing aggro and all i dont see those runes being of any use unless your a tanky guardian or w.e
with a support build

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Jelly and mossman are the worst dungeons in the game imo.

Jelly is just... no just stop

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what are the new sigils and runes?

and why the F do they never add them to spvp

much rather do them than the crap that is grawl/cultist/harpy

[Meledelion]

new fractals is nice and all but with the randomness its unlikely youll get to see them much.. if ever and im sure people will still prefer swamp as a starter

plus the "Agony Resist Updates" sounds worrying

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only if they are actual skins and not something you need a stone/crystal for otherwise its just something to salvage or shove into the forge and hope for something less shitty

i got a fractal axe that just sits in my bank because im not going to buy mystic crystals so i can use the skin on something and without stats its just somethin to take the place of actual good stuff you want like weapons chests or a not so shitty ring for an alt

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why.. after checking tons of forums and shit about toughness causing aggro and all i dont see those runes being of any use unless your a tanky guardian or w.e
with a support build

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much rather do them than the crap that is grawl/cultist/harpy

You're not meant to see them all if you don't run fractals a lot reaching hardcap again will take at least 54 fractals, there's a good chance that you'll see the 3 new ones by that point.

Agony resist change shouldn't worry you, they simply want to make WvW players have a better use for ascended gear since AR doesn't help.

I agree that it should be usable skins instead of being forced to use a crystal.

Toughness is completely useless for all builds, especially if you're going to waste a stacking sigil on it. The only place where toughness has some place is WvW.

People tend to dislike grawl/cultist(cliffside?)/asura because they are bad players. Mossman and Jelly are by far the worst fractals due to how braindead those fights are.

[Deleted]

People tend to dislike grawl/cultist(cliffside?)/asura because they are bad players. Mossman and Jelly are by far the worst fractals due to how braindead those fights are.

I agree with you for once Meledelion! I even considered putting "grawl ready" in the lfg message just to weed out the people who leave/afk if they get it as 2nd fractal. None of the fractals even take much longer if they are done properly, and you would think by higher levels people would have realised how to do them properly.

[zito]

much rather do them than the crap that is grawl/cultist/harpy

Because they are brain dead easy, they are not interesting period. Grawl/cultist/harpy is harder because they actually have mechanics....

[Karizee]

I agree with you for once Meledelion! I even considered putting "grawl ready" in the lfg message just to weed out the people who leave/afk if they get it as 2nd fractal. None of the fractals even take much longer if they are done properly, and you would think by higher levels people would have realised how to do them properly.

Hah! That's a good strategy!

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why.. after checking tons of forums and shit about toughness causing aggro and all i dont see those runes being of any use unless your a tanky guardian or w.e
with a support build

There is no aggro in WvW. That is unless you are such a notorious beast that some commander is yelling, "Bring me the head of Achaman!!" ;-)

Aggro varies by encounter. It could be toughness, highest health, most damage, farthest from the boss, person getting rezzed, person doing rezzing, etc.

But I am def getting that sigil....I adore stacking sigils.

[Lycanroc]

Because they are brain dead easy, they are not interesting period. Grawl/cultist/harpy is harder because they actually have mechanics....

The only thing I hate about cultist is the damn jumping puzzle that makes doing it with pugs absolutely abysmal. Also, people sometimes hate to listen and communicate! It's dreadfully annoying, but it is a good fractal to look at. A lot of me just wishes the fractals had more lore impact or relevance, since we have so many fractals that aren't explained.

[zito]

It is gonna be good to solo the Molten alliance final bosses again since everyone else seems to die

XD

Still the best fight in the game and actually tuned with no tanks/aggro in mind unlike most of bosses in this game...