I plan on playing a bit this weekend (I want to take my thief to level 80), so feel free to call me!
I’ve done Ascalonian Catacombs (I think that’s the one in the Charr lowbie area), but I’m eligible for Caudecus’s Manor and Twilight Arbor (still only level 52 or so). Can you run Fractals before level 80?
Nope, fractals are an endgame deal.
Caudecus’s Manor is a really annoying dungeon, in my opinion—shows off all the worst parts of a third-person camera by being inside most of the time. I like Twilight Arbor, but a lot of people don’t. I think my favorite was Crucible of Eternity.
I need to read up on these dungeons. And, apparently, get to level 80!
I think it’s a little unfortunate that the dungeons haven’t really had any attention since release. The boss fights in the living story have been incredible, in my opinion—dungeons feel a little tank-and-spank to me now, by comparison. The living story fights are frequently less about raw damage and more about avoiding the big hits, tanking the little hits, and doing something with nearby items, and that really de-emphasizes the whole berserker gear playstyle. I really wish they’d go back and retool some of the dungeons in that style.
I liked Caudecus Manor, but that may be because I’m a ranged–but short-ranged–toon. I’ve done Twilight Arbor, and had a bunch of massive fails at it, and a few that went OK. I’m guessing the ones that went OK were due to people knowing what and when to do stuff.
Fired up another Huntress the other night. Playing the plant people this time because I rarely spent time in their home area, and get quests I haven’t seen before.
You can run fractals from 1-80; you’ll be scaled to 80. Fractals have an adjustable difficulty level from 1-50 so if you’re doing low level fractals it’s definitely possible with lower level characters. Probably you want to be at least level 30, though, just so you have access to all of your skills.
Agreed, but the level 80 Aetherpath in Twilight Arbor that was added during season one of living world is really cool. Have you tried that one? There’s even a bunch of cheevos tied to that path and they can be a bit of a challenge.
I’m going to be busy with Dice Masters stuff all night tonight, but I’d love to jump on for some Qt3 GW2 tomorrow afternoon!
Hopefully my Internet connection doesn’t decide to try to digest itself again during that time!
Also, dunno if it’s anyone else’s cup o’ joe, but I’ve always had better luck in group stuff using voice chat. Our dedicated channel on raidcall still exists. It’s 100% free, usually works great.
If it’s of interest, www.raidcall.com
Channel is QuarterToThree
May take multiple searches.
Also, if you’re into the story stuff at all and still wasting your time playing non-Sylvari characters, Colin says it is time to get on board:
We don’t want to give away too much of that right now, other than to say that if people don’t have a Sylvari character yet, it’s a great time to make one and have one ready to go for Heart of Thorns. It’s really going to be an interesting experience, and a twist that a lot of players are really excited about what it could mean for the game.
Huh. Totally didn’t know that. Cool.
Agreed, but the level 80 Aetherpath in Twilight Arbor that was added during season one of living world is really cool. Have you tried that one? There’s even a bunch of cheevos tied to that path and they can be a bit of a challenge.
I haven’t gotten to it yet—I needed a few dungeon armor pieces for my elementalist, so I spent a lot of time on them a while ago, took a break, and have mostly been doing living story since I came back.
Tell me a little about season 2 of the living story stuff. Can it be soloed if I buy the episodes with gems? Will it lead to cheevos or gear? Or is it now just story beats for those into that?
I played the whole season by myself, solo. It’s perfectly possible, though you might hit a few difficulty spikes, so a little build fiddling might be necessary.
Rewards include achievements, gear, and some of the best story bits in GW2, especially for fans of Guild Wars 1.
Each has a set of achievements associated with it. They usually introduce a new boss or event and there’s usually a few new items with each chapter, but they’re mostly decorative.
There is a bioluminescent armor set that glows in the dark that I kind of covet…not enough to actually grind for it, though.
I found them pretty unsoloable, but would be happy to run them with someone.
Some of the bosses were pretty annoying with my glass cannon mesmer build, but I did manage to finish all of them. I think they’re probably best with two people if you have that option. Or just be a ranger.
In terms of gear, finishing the Season 2 story parts will award you a full set of carapace gear (mostly cosmetic, as charmtrap pointed out) and several key items that are required to craft Mawdrey, an ascended (ie highest stat value available in game*) backpiece. Assembling Mawdrey also gets you Mawdrey II, an item that eats 50 Bloodstone Dust and gives you a random item. Unless you’re crafting ascended armor Bloodstone Dust tends to pile up pretty quick so Mawdrey II isn’t a bad way to dump some of it.
I believe the total cost of crafting Mawdrey is around 100g if you buy everything else you need from the TP.
- for all time, according to the devs
