Or is player skill abysmal?

So I've really tried to like random group finder in this game as I've been leveling and I have to say that something is wrong. My first complaint is that because you just match 4 people regardless of their roles the groups are a complete mess. I'd absolutely be fine with having to wait for a tank and a healer as a dps instead of wasting 20 to 30 minutes of my time constantly dieing to bosses. Unless it's Hammer Station it's a real gamble if groups can even finish the damn things.

I've gotten to the point where I'm just never going to queque for group Flash Points. It's just a waste of my time at this point. Which stinks because I love using lfg in Wow.

It just seems like such a wasted opportunity to have roles, but then tell your players their roles don't matter in the lfg. I just felt the need to rant about how awful of an experience the random group finder is and how if we did get proper groups they might be more successful.

Sorry for the rant, but it just seems like such a hassle to use as a player. I'm not sure if it gets better at endgame, but as a player just trying to use it to supplement my leveling experience it's awful.

Anyway again sorry for the rant I just had to get it off my chest.

I wonder if it's one of those stat capping algorithms that requires you to have every gear slot filled? Because it seems like some bosses have just absolutely ridiculous amounts of health and no matter what the comp is you can only get them to half health.

I remember doing a dungeon where the last boss had 3 mechanics. And these 3 mechanics were pretty straightforward. Dodge the cone aoe, dodge the aoe circles and heal the person who gets stun locked. And out of the dozens of times I've fought him the most successful time was when someone left and we did it with a companion set to healer. It's just frustrating from a grouping aspect that it's tuned in such a way. By no means do I want it to be a snooze fest, but you shouldn't wipe to a trash pack either.

I believe that enforcing role balance even in veteran flashpoints could do some good to the game, especially seeing how some boss are just plain hard to tank as a dps. This could also promote tank and heal play, and give new players some encouragement to play there roles. (You could even introduce a commendation system like in PvP to give even more reward)

I still believe that overall, companions should be undertuned as well, as they are half responsible for the lack of skill of a vast majority of the new playerbase. Having an npc do everything for you isn't a good thing if you want peoples to learn how to play the game.

This game also lacks a basic mmo tutorial for new players, such as "don't stand in aoes, you'll die" or "pay attention to your surroundings", "interrupt enemy casts" and stuff like that.

Another thing to help players would be to have their ability tooltip update whenever they gain a new spec passive, or even a utility point, so they know a bit better what to do without having to look at their discipline path all the time.

There's a lot of things that can be done to improve the overall skill level of the playerbase, even in terms of design standardization. It would just, like any other aspect of the game, take actual work and dedication. Which would result in only good things. But still, it's work.

I believe that enforcing role balance even in veteran flashpoints could do some good to the game, especially seeing how some boss are just plain hard to tank as a dps. This could also promote tank and heal play, and give new players some encouragement to play there roles. (You could even introduce a commendation system like in PvP to give even more reward)

 

I still believe that overall, companions should be undertuned as well, as they are half responsible for the lack of skill of a vast majority of the new playerbase. Having an npc do everything for you isn't a good thing if you want peoples to learn how to play the game.

 

This game also lacks a basic mmo tutorial for new players, such as "don't stand in aoes, you'll die" or "pay attention to your surroundings", "interrupt enemy casts" and stuff like that.

 

Another thing to help players would be to have their ability tooltip update whenever they gain a new spec passive, or even a utility point, so they know a bit better what to do without having to look at their discipline path all the time.

 

There's a lot of things that can be done to improve the overall skill level of the playerbase, even in terms of design standardization. It would just, like any other aspect of the game, take actual work and dedication. Which would result in only good things. But still, it's work.

And that's the biggest issue so much of group content is fundamentally broken. They would have to rework how the LFG finder works to promote people actually playing classes with responsibilities outside of sweeping the deeps.

But I do agree with everything you've said.

This is a learn-to-play issue, unfortunately.

A skilled player can absolutely solo most vet FP bosses with intelligent use of kolto tanks and defensive cooldowns. I know because I have done it. I've been in plenty of groups where everyone died but me and I finished the fight by myself.

This is a learn-to-play issue, unfortunately.

 

A skilled player can absolutely solo most vet FP bosses with intelligent use of kolto tanks and defensive cooldowns. I know because I have done it. I've been in plenty of groups where everyone died but me and I finished the fight by myself.

As a level 10 I can queue with barely any defensives and depending on the class few heals. I know not to Aoe as you will insta die if you don't have a tank, but a level 10 wouldn't know that. It's an issue with the finder at its core. A level 10 gets ripped to shreds scaled up to 70. I'd rather that level 10 only be able to so the Black Talon/Essles and have to have the holy trinity. I'm fine with waiting. I'd rather wait for a functional group than have an instant queue that dies on the first trash pull of any given FP. At that point I might as well leave. It's just asinine game design.

As a level 10 I can queue with barely any defensives and depending on the class few heals. I know not to Aoe as you will insta die if you don't have a tank, but a level 10 wouldn't know that. It's an issue with the finder at its core. A level 10 gets ripped to shreds scaled up to 70. I'd rather that level 10 only be able to so the Black Talon/Essles and have to have the holy trinity. I'm fine with waiting. I'd rather wait for a functional group than have an instant queue that dies on the first trash pull of any given FP. At that point I might as well leave. It's just asinine game design.

As a level 10, the ONLY flashpoint you can queue for is Black Talon, so I don't see the problem you're having here. In any case, the best way to learn the game is to play. Dying isn't an existential crisis. It's a video game. Sometimes you lose. That's not a real issue either.

As a level 10, the ONLY flashpoint you can queue for is Black Talon, so I don't see the problem you're having here. In any case, the best way to learn the game is to play. Dying isn't an existential crisis. It's a video game. Sometimes you lose. That's not a real issue either.

I've gotten Hammer Station at 10 a bunch of times. I can do that one in my sleep. I don't care if I die. We brush ourselves off and try again, but there are some boss fights that are too hard for random groups. Hard is a relative term, but I mean it in a hp sponge more than actually difficult. The toughest boss just had 4 million hp as his difficulty. Mechanically he was a joke. That issue of Aoeing and pulling all the agro is still there as well. It's just a joke of a group finder. You don't need to tank or heal so what's the point of playing them? It's atenthical to being a group and contributing via your given roles. Just dps and hit things and corpse run to victory. It's the same garbage Guild Wars 2 has.

I've gotten Hammer Station at 10 a bunch of times.

This is definitely not true and it makes it look like you're making up your entire story. From levels 10 to 14, you can only queue for Black Talon. Hammer Station is level 15.

This is not so much a "L2P" issue as it is a "L2PVFP " issue - "Learn to play veteran FPs".

Many people go into a veteran FP with the usual "trinity" mindset and have a hard time with "who's healing", "who's tanking", etc.

But the trick is to forget the trinity. Although it's always nice to have a healer and/or a tank the bottom line is:

Veteran FPs don't "need" a tank. There isn't usually any mechanic that requires the sort of

"grab agro", "turn tank away from group", "pull tank over here", etc, 'tanky' things that MM and OPs do.

Veteran FPs don't need a healer. You need to look after mitigating your own damage taken, and healing yourself. This applies to the tank, if there is one. Use the koltos yourself and don't worry about losing agro or whatever.

Furthermore, no one needs to play tank or healer if there isn't one. Mainly you need to learn to look after yourself and not expect a tank or healer to save your butt. (Which has the added benefit of making you play better in MM FPs, and OPs.)

I'm gonna be very honest:

If you think Vet FPs are overtuned you are absolutely in the learn to play category.

While I don't do them much since they got rid of the holy trinity, they're not hard; just tedious.

I've gotten Hammer Station at 10 a bunch of times.

You literally cannot queue for Hammer Station at level ten. It is simply not available in the group finder.

but there are some boss fights that are too hard for random groups. Hard is a relative term, but I mean it in a hp sponge more than actually difficult. The toughest boss just had 4 million hp as his difficulty. Mechanically he was a joke.

Can you name some of these bosses which are too difficult? Just so happening to not mention your level, the flashpoint, or the bosses in question is a bit... er, conspicuous?

This is not so much a "L2P" issue as it is a "L2PVFP " issue - "Learn to play veteran FPs".

No, it's just a learn to play issue. If you don't know how to use your defensive abilities properly and if you don't know how to kite, then you don't know how to play in any game mode.

Flash points in general not overturned. For experienced players, all flashpoints are faceroll content.

The problem is that too many people (1) don’t want to do mechanics and (2) have absolutely no idea how to play their class, not learning their defensives and rotation. It’s really not very hard to read a guide for an hour and do minimum 15k dps Sadly, every time I do one of the new FPs through GF, the two dps will pull about 20k between them.

So...the answer to OP is that the player base has many, many abysmal players, who you will invariably run into in GF. I recommend forming your own group on fleet instead. If someone is bad, don’t invite them to the next run.

make vet fps lvl 60+ minimum for the love of god!!!

i roll my eyes everytime i see 2-3 lvl 30 players...player skill is another story entirely.

If you're struggling in a vet fp that level 30s can queue for I don't think the problem is the level 30s.

yeah because running blood hunt for example with 3 lvl 30 is hella fun, especially if they have no idea how most fp bosses work.....not to mention how overtuned some fps are in terms of difficulty,

yeah because running blood hunt for example with 3 lvl 30 is hella fun, especially if they have no idea how most fp bosses work.....not to mention how overtuned some fps are in terms of difficulty,

since when can you queue for blood hunt with lvl 30s? did they changed it back? or do you make your comment on outdated informations?