GW2: Liadri – Final thoughts

If you’re wondering where I’ve been, why there haven’t been any recent posts, blame Liadri. I spent the last two weeks trying to beat her in the Queen’s Gaunlet. I finally did it a few days ago.

What? Did you think I spent all my time on the trading post? : P

This was not an easy fight, certainly not for me. I tried it on a few of my alts, but eventually got her with my thief, pictured above. I worked pretty hard at killing her, changing classes, upgrading my gear, trying different builds, and trying over and over, again, to beat her. In the end, I had a real sense of accomplishment and a cool mini.

So here are my thoughts on this fight:

Does beating Liadri mean you’re leet?

If you read the forums, there are a lot of people who think they’re gaming gods, because they beat Liadri. They’re not. Liadri isn’t easy, but it’s mostly about timing. Phase one requires almost no combat skills, except for dodging, and phase two of the fight is about kiting and breaking her cripples. Phase two can be learned by anyone. Phase one, not so much about fighting, takes persistence: You have to do it over and over until you know the timing of her shadow falls and when it’s safe to grab an orb.

So no, I don’t feel especially leet. I’m good at kiting and I was willing to keep doing this fight over and over, because it became something of a pride thing after a bit.

It’s not very MMO

I’ve played a ton of MMOs and I can’t think of another MMO that has an activity like this – Liadri and the entire Gauntlet is a single-player fight. That’s kinda bizarre when you think about it. The entire Queen’s Gauntlet is a solo fight.

I probably spent the bulk of my time playing Guild Wars 2 solo this last month. The Gauntlet is a pretty anti-MMO activity.

The rewards are out of whack

That’s a pretty awesome mini in that picture, above, isn’t it? Is there another mini that’s comparable for more MMO activities? Is there a cool mini you get for beating an especially tough dungeon boss? Do you get a cool mini for racking up 500 WvW ranks? Do you get a cool mini for your crack PvP squad?

All that said, I love my mini and you can’t have it back. But how ’bout some comparable rewards for some tough MMO activities?

Where’s the lore?

Liadri is an awesome cool boss. She needs some back story and maybe a place in the Living Story.