Stupid question is stupid, but what is the differance between a fractual and a dungeon. Something I have been wondering the last few weeks. Or are they the same
Dungeons are like extensions to your Personal Story. Each one has a 'Story' instance which you need to do first to unlock the 'Explorable' instances.
The Story instance (as the name suggests) is more lore driven and concerns one or more characters from 'Destiny's Edge' (Caithe, Logan, Ritlock, Zoja, Eir).
Story instances are easier than Explorable modes.
Completing a story instance doesn't give much reward, a few silver and that's about it, you do it to experience the storyline.
Once you've unlocked Explorable mode each dungeon has 3 'paths' you can attempt (apart from Arah which has 4). Each path has you doing a different quest in the same area, but involves areas of the dungeon you previously might not have visited, traps you might not have encounted, or enemies you might not have fought.
Depending on the path you chose the rewards for completion can range from 1-3g, plus XP, karma, and loot. Some paths are much harder than others, and their length varies greatly.
Fractals on the other hand are like 'mini' dungeons, and unlike dungeons you don't get to pick which you do. Fractals are slices of time from Tyria's past.
There are currently 14 possible fractals, 11 normal fractals, and 3 boss fractals.
Normal
Aquatic Ruins
Swampland
Uncategorised
Urban Battlegrounds
Molten Furnace
Snowblind
Cliffside
Aetherblade
Thaumanova
Underground
Volcanic
Boss
Captain Mai Trinn
Molten
Solid Ocean
To finish a set of fractals you must complete 3 normal fractals and 1 boss fractal (back to back without leaving).
You have a personal 'Fractal Reward Level', as a new player going in your reward level will be 1. If you complete a full set of fractals that will increase to 2. The higher the Fractal Level the harder the fractals become (enemies will do more damage, there'll be more enemies, harder versions of enemies, environment effects will be stronger etc.).
At Lv10 bosses within the fractals gain an ability called 'Agony' which causes massive damage. The only way to protect from this is to equip Agony Resistance Infusions in your ascended equipment, each infusion halves the amount of damage you take from Agony. However at every multiple of 10 levels Agony increases in strength, so you would need to also increase the amount of AR infusions on your character to progress.
For example at Lv10 Agony removes 12% of your max health every second. With 5 AR that drops to 6%, with 10 AR it drops to 1%.
However at Lv20 you would need 25 AR to only take 1% damage. At Lv30 you'd need 40 AR. etc.
When you hit Fractal Level 30 you start to get party wide debuffs called Mistlock Instabilities that last the entire time you are on your fractal run. These are things like:
Outflanked - Enemies do more damage when attacking from behind or the sides.
Last Laugh - Enemies explode when killed.
Social Awkwardness - Nearby allies reduce your healing effectiveness.
Each Fractal Level 30-50 has it's own Instability that you have to deal with.
The higher your Fractal Level the more chance of better rewards, Ascended Rings, Infused Ascended Rings, Ascended Materials, Ascended Weapon / Armour boxes, Fractal Weapon Skins, Exotics, etc.
