Secrets in the Swamp

One of my favourite events in Guild Wars 2 is the fight with the Shadow Behemoth in Godslost Swamp in Queensdale. This is the event that really drew me into the game when I first encountered it months ago in the beta weekends. Fighting this giant monstrosity really made me want to explore the world and find other battles like this one. The January patch saw a fix to a bug that was preventing this event from occurring and I have been meaning to write an article about it ever since. Today I will satisfy that itch by introducing you to the Shadow Behemoth.

The Shadow Behemoth encounter is accessible by almost everyone as it is only rated at level 15. You can join in on this battle once every three hours in the Queensdale zone. Simply head to the southern areas of the zone and search for the Godlost Swamp. When you are in the general area of the swamp a new event will appear in your event tracker in the top right of your screen called, "Secrets in the Swamp". By looking at this you can tell whether the event is active or not. There are four states that this event tracker can be in.

Firstly, it most often says, "The swamp lies dormant." This means that currently the event is not active. From the time the last Shadow Behemoth was defeated until the next fight starts is about three hours. If you are looking for other things to do in the mean time there is a jumping puzzle in the South East of the zone called "Demongrub Pits" and events will spawn frequently around the Krytan Freeholds, Phinney Ridge, and Altar Brook Vale.

Once the 3 hour timer is up portals will open up in three different areas surrounding the Godlost Swamp and the event tracker will update to, "Underworld forces have been spotted outside the swamp." This indicates that the first set of events have begun. You will need to head to the three different areas of Queensdale; Phinnery Ridge, Taminn Foothills, and Krytan Freeholds. Each location has three portals protected by shadow creatures. Damaging the portal will cause a number of these creatures to attack you but since they lack ranged abilities they can easily be kited while you damage the portals from a distance. Working on your own or in the group you should be able to quickly close the portals in all three locations. Don't be afraid to announce in map chat that the Shadow Behemoth events have started. There are usually a number of people in Queensdale that will come to assist.

The Portals in Phinney Ridge.

Fighting to close the portals in the Krytan Freeholds.

Once you have managed to close all the portals surrounding Godlost Swamp the event tracker will update to say, "There is a disturbance in the heart of the swamp." At this time you will be directed to enter the swamp where you will find three more portals to the underworld and a large vortex of energy that is beginning to form. Use the same tactics you used on the other portals in the previous event and prepare to meet the Shadow Behemoth.

The location of the final pre-event and the fight with the Shadow Behemoth.

More fighting to close portals to the underworld.

Shortly after you close the last of the portals surrounding the vortex the Shadow Behemoth will emerge from the depths and the event tracker will update to say, "The beast has been awakened."

He is magnificent isn't he?

Time to get down to business.

The fight with him is rather straight forward and it will not take long to complete. The fight essentially has three phases that occur one after the other. The Behemoth will start by tossing a number of shards of dark energy around the battlefield creating large areas of damage. Simply watch for him to bring his hands together to cast the spell then get out of the red circles of damage. If you can not get out of the circles in time just be sure you are not in any over lapping areas. This is where the damage will be most intense.

The Shadow Behemoth summons dark shards of energy from the underworld.

He then rains the dark shards down upon the battlefield.

Once the Shadow Behemoth has completed casting his spells he will be vulnerable to damage while he prepares his next ability. Target the Behemoths head and let loose with your ranged attacks. If your main damage is done through melee attacks get ready for him to scream. While he is doing this you will be able to close to melee distance to unleash a burst of damage. The scream will open a number of portals marking the beginning for the next phase of the fight.

The Shadow Behemoth's scream pierces the veil between Tyria and the underworld.

Now content the Behemoth summons his allies from beyond.

Once the portals are open focus on destroying them and the monsters the spill out from the underworld. Spread out and focus on a portal that your allies are neglecting. Beware though, the Shadow Behemoth will begin casting his spells shortly after the portals have opened. Close all the portals, dodge the AoE damage, and get ready to hit the Behemoth again. The Shadow Behemoth will follow this pattern for the rest of the fight. The battle will not take long and soon you will be sharing in the loot with your allies.

Expect typical loot for a chest in Guild Wars 2. With the new dynamic loot system you will receive level appropriate gear which makes this a great event for everyone to participate in. You can even track when the next Shadow Behemoth fight will take place on the dragon timer at Guild Wars Temple so long as someone on your server has kept it up to date.

If you haven't checked out this event for yourself what are you waiting for? It takes virtually no time at all. For the next week do your daily achievements in Queensdale and I am sure you will encounter this event at least once. If not, hang out a while and wait for it to come up. It is worth it in my opinion. *Edit* A guild mate uploaded this video of the entire fight in 1080p. Check it out. Thanks to "The Badger".

What I like about this fight are the visuals, the mechanics in the fight, and the length of the battle. Firstly, the visuals are outstanding. When the Shadow Behemoth first spawns into the world is it like a cloud of smoke bursting forth from the ground. The amorphous blob of shadows then slowly arranges itself into the form of the Shadow Behemoth. During the battles the players are constantly kept busy. Whether you are closing a portal, dodging an AoE attack, or wailing on the Behemoth itself you are constantly on your toes. None of the phases of the battle last too long either which keeps things fresh. The Behemoth itself also does not have a crazy amount of HP and he will be downed inside 10 minutes no problem.

The only complaint I really have about the encounter is that at no point do you really feel in danger. None of the Behemoth's abilities really do any significant damage and even if they did they are easy to avoid. I understand that the encounter is in a starter zone and can not be overly difficult but even new players need to learn the revive mechanics in the game at some point.

Overall, the encounter is fantastic and I am ecstatic that it is working as intended once again. What do you guys think of this encounter? What was your impression of it the first time you did it? Also, what do you think of the format of this article? I tried something different then my usually by including more screenshots then I normally do to help break up the text. Let me know in the comments!

Encounter Design: Spotlighting

The more I right this blog the more I am realizing that old school pen and paper RPG's, Dungeons and Dragons, and World of Darkness mostly, influence my views on Guild Wars 2. When I played with my friends in high school I am usually took on the role of the dungeon master. This continues even now over ten years later. I follow and keep up with a couple RPG blogs, Gnome Stew for example, and I am especially fond of articles they right on encounter design. Those were also always my favourite bits in the dungeon master sections of the Dungeons and Dragons books. Designing good encounters is not easy. Arena Net has an even more difficult task of trying to make interesting encounters and then make them interesting multiple times. 

Today I want to look at encounter design and how it relates to Guild Wars 2. Specifically I want to look at spotlighting. Spotlighting is a term used for when a DM designs a particular encounter or task specifically for an individual within the group. You can do this based on the players class, abilities, or skills, or you can focus more on who they are as a gamer. The whole point, though, is to make that player feel like the boss.

Guild Wars 2 has a tough time doing this and it is what makes a lot of the encounters feel bland. The problem is that Arena Net decided to do away with the "holy trinity" of Tank, DPS, and Healer and then failed to replace it with anything. Massively recently wrote an article on the problems Guild Wars 2 has and the lack of roles was one of there chief complaints. The problem it causes is that people do not have roles to play, and thus there is no spotlighting and no structure. Most MMO's have this built right in. If you are an awesome tank then every time you have to pull a room of mobs and sit on that boss you are spotlighting. When you do your job well you are rewarded with that feeling everyone feels when you do something no one else in the party could have done.

Arena Net choose not to go down this path. They have specifically stated that they do not want the holy trinity in their game. This is not necessarily a bad thing though, it just needs something to replace it. Having not replaced it with anything most encounters in the game are a snooze fest, because essentially they are all the same. The vast majority currently fall into one of two types, tank and spank, or dodge the AoEs. A tank and spank can be a relief after an extremely challenging encounter, and it has its place, but the vast majority of encounters in this game involve fighting a massive HP well. This is not fun, and I often find myself spacing out during most fights. Dodge the AoE can also be a lot of fun. The first time I ran Crusible of Eternity I had a lot of fun fighting the Alpha boss. After the third time fighting the same NPC in the same dungeon with the same mechanics I was done and hate going to run this dungeon because I know no matter what path I do I will have to suffer through the same encounter three times in a row.

There are exceptions though and Guild Wars 2 does have some good encounters, specifically, the hammer fractal. In this mini dungeons there are a series of encounters based around a hammer. The hammer is the only thing that can destroy the seals which are central to each of the combat encounters. There is a trick though, the hammer places conditions on the person holding it, does damage to you when you pick it up, and will out right kill you if you hold it for too long. This is great! Roles are back, kind of. If you have the hammer it can be a lot of fun. Although this is a great little mini dungeon it is still not all the way there. Two or three people are normally responsible for passing the hammer back and forth and they normally get this role because they are the most competent or the quickest to grab the hammer. The others are stuck doing the same old stuff. It is also extremely frustrating to have to explain this encounters design to those that do not understand it. The mechanics are left up to the player to discover. Why not have the mechanics explained as part of the story?

While not completely there, this dungeon takes a step in the right direction. If you are not going to have specific roles at the outset, tank, dps, healer, then make the roles within the encounter itself. For example, in the hammer fractal they could add two other items, say the gloves that go with the hammer. Wearing one of the gloves grants the person wearing it the ability to remove conditions from the person carrying the hammer. It would be possible to continue this theme and add in a shield too. The person carrying the shield can create a bubble which protects the person with the hammer from attacks. Finally, they could add in a helmet which allows the wearer to buff and inspire the person with the hammer to do more damage. Now each person has a role in the party, and will need to work well together to succeed. When they perform their part they will know that they were integral to the success of the party and team and each time you run the dungeon you can try a different role to keep things fresh.

This is not the only way that Arena Net could add more spotlighting into the game though. They could focus on class abilities. In Citadel of Flame path 2 there is a part where you need to kite some mobs around in a circle while Magg plants a bomb at the door. Usually the party takes turns kiting, usually starting with a Warrior. The warrior has the ability to leap a distance and makes an effective kiter. This is a spotlight moment for a warrior player. In the same dungeon you have to cross a lava field with Magg to retrieve some materials to make a bomb. A thief can do this easily on their own using stealth making for a great thief spotlight. Similarly, in Crusible of Eternity there is a laser trap that needs to be crossed. A Mesmer can quickly cross it and set up a portal to get everyone through. These are the kind of moments you say to yourself, "I am glad I picked that class." Another great thing about these moments is that you do not have to have a person playing that class to finish these dungeons. It is just vastly easier with a good player playing that particular class. It sets up situations where other people in the party will say, "I am glad we had that guy in the party."

Spotlighting is something that I believe would add more depth to the encounters in Guild War 2. It would make me happy I picked a certain class, and it would make the dungeons more than what they already are. This is something I learned being a Dungeon Master for Dungeons and Dragons and it made a huge difference in my encounters and how they were enjoyed by my players. This is not the be all and end all of encounter design and not every scene needs to have a spotlight moment. Guild Wars encounters need something though. The Massively article says it perfectly;

...[Guild Wars 2]'s actual group dungeons lack much in the way of structure, and group combat feels more like a mess of people trying to overwhelm events and enemies with numbers instead of finesse.

And that is exactly it. There is no sense of accomplishment when you finish a dungeon in Guild Wars 2. You just go off and look for your group for the next slog through another dungeon. In the future I will look at other aspects of encounter design and how Arena Net could utilize them to bring new life to Tyria.