Random subtleties to raise the challenge

I'm a PvEer and I certainly enjoy Tombs. But as challenging as it is, over time people figure out a build that works so well it loses its challenge. Case in point, the Barrage/Pet + MM build for Tombs.

I've been in this build myself, and I've nothing against it. What I have an issue with is the fact that challenging areas become less challenging over time simply due to the nature of it. Each time the areas load, a static set of enemies is produced. Each time people play it, they learn something about it that they can use to form better builds.

I think it would be great if ANet fought against this tendency by making areas a little more dynamic. For example, let's say some of the times when you enter Tombs, there are enemies that use Edge of Extinction or Spiteful Spirit. Other times you will see enemies using Spirit Shackles. Other times enemies will use Scourge Healing or Defile Flesh. But overall the most common enemies remain relatively the same, keeping with the general feel of the area.

This means that each time you enter a high-end PvE area, you can never be fully sure what you're going to encounter. Therefore, no one build can always rule the day every time. This means people must think on their feet more and the challenge of the area will remain relatively high.

What they're doing now is watching to see what builds we make, then counter those builds with a patch. Well why do that all the time when they can just make it change constantly?

I really like this idea, though it sounds difficult to implement. Nothing beats the first time you head into that high level area and end up sucking down candy canes like they're going out of style. It would also make areas more replayable (tombs is boring now).
Well, anyway,
/signed

True, it would take a good while to impliment. It would be a fairly major patch perhaps. The rewards for their efforts are pretty big though. Doing this may breathe life into many of their old areas.

I think the amount of work to put it in and the return for doing the work balances out.

/signed

/signed

I probably would agree with this if I have been playing longer, but since I've only been in one successfull tombs group, it's OK how it is for now with me. But agreed - if it becomes tedious and boring it should be made not so much so...

/not signed

Well then people could then just enter the area/mission, then if they notice the monsters are using a different build than what they are prepped for...rezone. That would just end up being very annoying.

*zone in*
"wrong monsters"
*zone out*
*zone in*
"nope. zone again"
*zone out* *zone in*
"still wrong. zone again."
etc....

Yes exactly. I dont think ANet has time to program 100's of different AIs for 100's of different monsters for 100's of different skill sets to stop this(then again im not a programmer and that was a complete guess). I think this is the reason that they didnt make it random in the first place. I can see people doing this until they get the right monsters to farm because they arent playing for the challange of pve, they are playing to get better stuff, if I enjoyed pve and farming I certainly would do that.

I knew this would come up. First of all, I'm not talking about randomizing all the monsters. Just a few key monsters at a few areas. Secondly, they don't have to reveal themselves at the beginning. Perhaps the first area remains the same. Thirdly, if you have, say, 5 varieties, the chances of you getting the one you want are 1 in 5, and that's too low of a chance to put all your eggs in 1 basket on a build and run in, fight for a bit to find out, and run out to get a different spawn. At that point it would take you longer to keep running in and out and eventually finish the mission than it would to just continue with whichever spawn you got.

The same can be said of Sorrow's Furnace. Just leave Grenth's Footprint and the first section of SF the same and the rest has some semi-random builds thrown in. Mind you, the real problem with SF is that dumb gear trick anyway. FoW and UW can be done the same as well, though in those two places there is even less incentive to restart due to the cost of getting in.

I think something has to be done to keep the game fresh.