Last night the Combat Wombats met up in the homeland of the Charr to take on the level 30 story-mode dungeon ‘Ascalonian Catacombs’. Our greatest challenge was trying to get everyone into the zone, even when we all started from the same instance. Some how we got bugged and we all had to log out before the game would let us in. 20 minutes after pounding at the gates they let us through. Fixed? Not so much.
I learned a few more things this dungeon run. Rangers are not nice. Elementalists die first. Boulders are not an exploit, bring them and use them EVERYWHERE.
I also learned that if you really want to get the best benefits from a dungeon, you should try to do them when you’re level appropriate. While the gear that I got from every chest and drop was for level 57-58 (my level) the final dungeon chest rewarded a helm that was level 30.
To say the dungeon was easy would be a complete and utter lie. It took the Wombats about mid way through for us to finally find our groove. Once we adjusted traits and got comfortable with each others play style things went much easier, but were still really hard. Because dungeons scale you just like the rest of the world does, there will be no running off to solo instances that I can see, unless some sort of mercenary NPC is added further down the road.
Once you’ve completed story mode you’ll have the option (as long as you’re the right level) to either re-enter story mode, or move on to exploration mode. Apparently exploration mode is MUCH harder than story mode, so you’ve been warned.
Still, it was a great evening and I had a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to seeing what our next adventure will be.
As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!
Just to clarify: I did get to witness the story up unto the dual boss which proved to be unbeatable for us.
If the loot is indeed supposed to scale in dungeons, that seems to be broken, since i got loot that was at least 10 levels below mine.
I had fun both times I went, learning to work together, learning what tactics worked and what didn’t. We died, but not THAT much, and once we found our group groove, hardly at all. Plus the loot wasn’t worthless to me, since it scales, and the final item is more of an appearance item than anything else. I didn’t miss the story and enjoyed it quite a bit since you can’t skip past the cut scenes, and there are a lot of them (at least in story mode). Over all, it wasn’t what I expected from a dungeon, and I liked that.
Should be ‘gave up’.
Since GW 2 is only my second MMO, EVE being my first, I’d really like to know what it is you enjoy about Dungeons.
When I tried Ascalonian Catacombs I was Level 42 and still, thanks to downleveling we died about 2-3 times per killed enemy, then the bosses came along which caused at least a dozen deaths each.
When we encountered the dual boss we habe up after what felt like the hundreth death.
All the while repair bills kept mounting and what little loot we got was worthless.
It was a very unpleasant experience which after 15 minutes I only endured for the story, which I ultimately didn’t see.
What exactly is the point of dungeons?
I hope that they add a mode where the dungeon doesn’t scale eventually. I kind of like going back to lower level dungeons and taking a stroll through them, laying waste to mobs that once made my life a living hell! LOL Plus being able to really explore and check out the architecture.
OTOH I suppose that leads to massive farming and all that, so maybe this way is better.
So much fun! Those friggen Ranger traps were the death of us – literally! But I’m pretty proud of the fact that we made the attempt and were able to succeed on our first go at it! Looking forward to doing it a few more times.
Go boulders!!
Congratulations on finishing Ascalonian Catacombs! :)
I have yet to do it but I am really look forwarding to give it a try. I will have to remember your comment about the boulders when that happens.
As for rangers and elementalists… Completely agree! Only ones worse than those are grenadiers. And worse than that is when they are ghosts! Ah, how I hate those ghosts ascalonians by now!