A few things I gobbled up from this post and the post from uCrevox aboveTheir tells really got better over the years . most of it is just not done via enemy movement barring some raid boss attacks , but those are clear , but via red AoE fields that flash up before the attack , giving you a window to evade . Secondly , Anet has a hard time refurbishing old content with the new tech . I have no idea why . Also dungeons as a development timesink is basically non existent right now . The fractals are the intended successor . Cheesing mechanics has been a long tradition in group content , that is true . I don ' t know if it ' s part of the everyone is a DPS system would need to play more Black Desert in comparison or part of the movement system being so open . I at least can ' t remember anything like that in FF 14 or WoW . GW 2 is indeed not a game that warns you ahead of time , instead it throws you in and expects you to react . But , you usually have a big kit of responses that can give you the edge for the surprise , and if you play content often enough , as it is with every MMO , or any game in general , you know what the enemy is capable of . Only at the highest level like the new fractal on the highest rank or with its hidden challenge mode enabled do you get basically instantly killed for a mistake . Aside from raids not even there in most cases , the new fractal on highest level , and rare old dungeon encounters that never got renewed do you get killed by surprise from 100 % health . Maybe the more randomized structure of the fights makes it seem like bullshit , in contrast to cooldown structured fights in other games , but it is all in the managable realm . Also yes , Guild Wars 1 was better . Almost exploit free , heavy focus on tactics instead of gear , you relied on many niche builds instead of a one size fits all build . Too bad something like Mass Effect or Dragon Age doesn ' t have CoOp , it would fit in that barren niche .