Fractals of the Mists is a special type of dungeon that consists of an array of mini-dungeons called fractals, where each fractal has its own story and environment. Characters are adjusted to level 80 within the dungeon. The dungeon is one of the primary sources of ascended equipment and provides materials for crafting infused equipment. In fact, the first ascended items were added with the introduction of Fractals of the Mists. The dungeon has some unique mechanics and design. The party must choose the difficulty scale prior to entering the dungeon. This difficulty scale starts at 1 and can be increased. The personal reward level tracks the current position of the character on the difficulty scale. To increase the personal reward level, and therefore the highest fractal scale accessible by the character, the character must complete a set of fractals on a fractal scale equal or greater to their personal reward level. This provides progression in the dungeon, allowing players to continuously complete higher and higher levels on the difficulty scale and greater rewards as a result. When entering the dungeon, the players arrive in Mistlock Observatory, a "hub" area within the Mists. Entering Mistlock, you'll meet Dessa, a scientist who has made explorable chunks of reality from the Mists. There are hostile elements that were acquired during Mistlock which you are asked to dispose of. You may begin by entering the portal within the Mistlock to enter a fractal. You will hear Dessa's voice while stabilizing the fractal. Once it is stabilized, she and her krewe will transport you to the next one. Eventually, you'll be looped back to the Mistlock. Fractals of the Mists uses a difficulty scale in contrast to the story and explorable modes of dungeons. Your personal reward level increases by one each time you complete an entire run at a difficulty scale equal or greater than your personal level. Whoever enters the hub may choose the difficulty level, which can be up to the highest level of any member of the current party. Increased personal levels offer increased rewards, even if the run is at a lower difficulty level. Higher difficulty levels offer greater challenges and higher chances of better rewards, from foes, from chests, and from bonus chests. Standard changes at higher difficulty levels Standard foes spawn in greater numbers and at higher ranks, e.g. more veterans. Some foes will gain new abilities, e.g. in the Uncategorized Fractal, the harpies start to knock players back. Major changes at different tiers Fractals include more substantial changes at level 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50, so players also refer to difficulty "tiers". New items begin dropping at higher tiers; other items begin dropping more frequently. New challenges are added at new tiers: Agony is added at the second tier (level 10-19) and it continues to increase with each tier. Mistlock Instability is added with the fourth tier (starting at level 31). Difficulty tiers are not directly tied to the daily chest reward tiers. Each difficulty scale requires the completion of four consecutive fractals, the fourth of which is called a boss fractal. The fractals are randomly selected from a small set: the first fractal tends to be easier than the second, which is usually considered easier than the third. Aquatic Ruins, Swampland, Urban Battlegrounds, Uncategorized. Uncategorized, Snowblind, Urban Battlegrounds, Molten Furnace, Cliffside. Aetherblade, Volcanic, Thaumanova Reactor, Underground Facility, Cliffside. (Boss fractal): Solid Ocean Fractal, Molten Boss Fractal or Captain Mai Trin Boss Fractal. Video Walkthrough/Guide of Each Fractals Each fractal has its own story and environment. After stablizing the current fractal, each player must click a confirmation button before Dessa will transport the party to the next. After completing all four fractals, the party will be returned to the Mistlock Observatory and the difficulty scale will increase by one. There are no waypoints and no repair stations in fractals, so bring your repair cannisters and extra armor sets and remember to get out of combat for your friends to respawn from the beginning. Agony plays a role in fractals at level 10 or higher; the amount of damage inflicted increases substantially at levels 20, 30, 40, and 50. Outside the boss fractals, agony is inflicted as part of an enemy attack, allowing one to completely avoid agony by preventing or otherwise evading such attacks. Bosses in the three boss fractals inflict unavoidable agony. Agony's effects can only be reduced by equipping ascended items that include Agony Resistance. Monsters within Fractals of the Mists drop items and equipment equivalent to level 80 monsters of the same type. Additionally, Ascended quality items such as Vial of Condensed Mists Essence have a random chance of dropping. At the conclusion of each fractal is a boss fight similar to other dungeon bosses. Defeating this boss rewards players with a large chest that can contain rare and exotic loot as well as a guaranteed quantity of Fractal Relics which can be traded with BUY-4373 in the observatory. Reward chests from scale 11 and onwards will include the chance to drop Ascended items. It is generally believed that the higher the tier of the fractal, the better the drops (i.e. Difficulty 1-10, 11-20, or 21-30). Account-bound exotics drop in Fractals as well. Similar to explorable dungeons, a player account can receive a daily reward chest for completing a boss fractal. This daily reward chest includes a Bag of Coins (which contains 2 to 4 silver), a number of Fractal Relics, a chance at a bonus Ascended or Fractal item depending on the tier, and a Pristine Fractal Relic. For each player, rewards are based on the minimum between the selected Fractal Difficulty Scale and the player's Personal Reward Level. Also, players running at Fractal Scales lower than their own will receive bonus karma at the end of round. The consequence is that playing at a scale higher than one's level increases difficulty but not rewards, while playing at a lower scale decreases difficulty and rewards, but gives karma in exchange. Completing a boss fractal will award the player with a "bonus" chest. This can be obtained for each tier of Fractal Difficuly Scale below or containing the player's personal reward level. Personal Reward Levels The level of your personal reward will increase by 1 each time a fractal difficulty scale is completed at or above your current reward level. Completing a fractal difficulty scale below your personal reward level awards you karma, based on the following formula: *(640 + 8 * Completed difficulty) * (Personal reward level - Completed difficulty) = Karma awarded The (Personal reward level - Completed difficulty) factor is capped at 10. All bonuses (from achievements, banners etc.) are applied to the Karma reward. Karma Reward Table Daily Chests Tier | Difficulty | Fractal Relics | Possible Bonus' 0 | 1-10 | 20 | None 1 | 11-20 | 20 | Ascended Ring (non-Infused), Fractal weapon skin, Ascended chest 2 | 21-30 | 30 | Ascended Ring (non-Infused or Infused), Fractal weapon skin, Ascended chest 3 | 31-40 | 30 | Ascended Ring (non-Infused or Infused), Fractal weapon skin, Ascended chest 4 | 41-50 | 40 | Ascended Ring (non-Infused or Infused), Fractal weapon skin, Ascended chest, Endless Fractal Tonic Boss Chest Rewards Agony resist infusions Character equipment (blue quality or higher) Recipe: Superior Rune of Resistance (above level 30) Recipe: Superior Sigil of Momentum (above level 30) Fractal Relics: 1-5 5 Fractal Relics 6-10 6 Fractal Relics 11-15 7 Fractal Relics 16-20 8 Fractal Relics 21-25 9 Fractal Relics 26-30 10 Fractal Relics 31-35 11 Fractal Relics 36-40 12 Fractal Relics 41-45 13 Fractal Relics 46-50 14 Fractal Relics Ascended Crafting Materials 1+ Vial of Condensed Mists Essence 10+ Glob of Coagulated Mists Essence 20+ Shard of Crystallized Mists Essence Skills that block Projectiles, as well as Reflect and Blind skills are very important in the Fractals of the Mists, as almost all Fractals have multiple enemies that use ranged attacks and skills. Skills that provide Stability and skills that remove Conditions are very useful during many encounters in the Fractals of the Mists. Be prepared to switch skills often before different encounters. Reward tiers start at 1, 11, 21, etc., while Agony tiers start at 10, 20, 30, etc. Most fractals are designed for more than one person. For instance, you need at least three to complete the Underground Facility. Despite similarities to dungeons, completing a fractal does not count for Monthly Dungeon Participation and does not award influence to your guild. Personal fractal reward level is account based; it is not per character. Rewards, including bonus ones, are determined by your personal reward level. For example, a character whose personal reward level is 8 but completes a fractal at difficulty scale 12 will have no chance to win rings or weapons.
The upcoming changes to Fractals in HoT will completely change and revamp the way Fractals works. http://dulfy.net/2015/07/30/gw2-fractal-of-the-mists-changes-and-legendary-backpacks/ TLDR: Adding 50 more tiers to level difficulty (100 is new max), changing progressions system to one at a time instead of 3-4, new rewards system that includes the NEW Ascended Aqua Breather and ingredients for a LEGENDARY BACK PIECE! You will also finally be able to buy fractal weapon skins for fractal relics after level 50 is completed. And furthermore, they are adding NEW variants of the existing fractal weapons as drops after completing scales above level 50! (If you haven't seen the existing ones, they VERY rare and leave amazing particle trails when moving and have cool floating animations, example).
