Guild Wars 2

I just want to throw my hat in on the whole Zepher Sanctum giving up 1st place debate. I’m starting a new thread however because I also want to include some tips I have learned along the way for those who are not lucky enough to race with people that will give up the title to you, and In case these tips are going to help anyone I didn’t want this information to get lost 2 pages into to an already drawn out debate.
I was on both sides of the fence on this issue which is why I want to share my experience. If you don’t want to read the whole post, here is the skinny: There is nothing wrong with giving up first place; it can even be fun to do so.

But for those saying that getting first place is simply a matter of luck. I disagree whole heartedly. Of course you CAN get lucky and get first place, not likely if you are racing against someone who knows what they are doing though.

I first time getting 1st place did come by luck. I was actually behind and got two consecutive light travels brining me to 2nd place, and then first place made a mistake and fell. That was my third race. So I didn’t really get to feel the pressure and frustrating of working towards first place and not getting it, or losing it to someone already with a title.

Getting first place consistently and consecutively, however, is not luck. I have placed 1st up to 9 times in a row. That pretty much throws the luck theory right out the window. If you would like tips on how to get first, please read the following:

When the race starts, if both buff (shield) power ups are side by side, grab them both. Half the time this will net you an ‘Aspect Master’ buff. If it does, activate ‘Aspect Master’, line yourself with the next shield buff and use your number two skill to grab it and fly by most of the pack at this point. What you are hoping for is a second ‘aspect master’ buff. Yes there is where a little bit of luck comes in handy.

If you didn’t get ‘Aspect Master’ in the first two buffs you collected, make sure to collect both buffs in the second set. Because you are collecting multiple buffs and everyone else is just zooming by you’ll be a little bit behind and this nets you a larger chance to get ‘Aspect Master’.

When you round the first bend there are two more possible shield buffs to collect. If you don’t already have an aspect manager waiting for you in your bar should take the time to collect them both.

With the ‘Aspect Master’ buff activated, press #2 immediately followed by #1 to launch yourself through the air over those hurdle obstacles around the first bend. If you need more ‘Aspect Manger’ collect at least one of the shield buffs after the first bend.

Now you come to the big wooden ramp. No matter if you have ‘Aspect Master ‘ or not you should use your combined #2 then #1 to launch yourself off it. Upon landing grab the closest orange crystal and do the same thing to launch yourself past the remaining hurdles.

Now you are running up a hill, grab a crystal and use #2. Here is where I usually past anyone else who is still ahead of me and gain my 1st place starting lead. Grab one of the small orange crystals, these buff your #2 buff, run a little bit and line yourself up to launch yourself right over the bridge through the water fall. This is the most important part of the race, I don’t see anyone doing this and they loose because of it.

General tips for the rest of the race would be to keep getting the shield buffs if you don’t have a grounded buff ready, ground any lightening attack that targets you. If you don’t have a grounded buff and you see a lightening about to strike you don’t continue to jump or use #3 ability, just stand still, let it hit you and then continue.
When you are in 1st place, the only buffs you will get are grounded (shield) and fake power up (attack). So if you have an unused grounded buff, do not go out of your way to collect shield power ups.

When you get the fake power up attacks place them in spots that are hard or impossible to avoid. Such as the lightening platforms. If you really want to maximize their effect, jump a few platforms and place one on the middle, that way the person behind you spends the time to make the first two jumps before he is knocked off and returned to the check point.
The most important part though is getting that early lead, which is what most people seem to think is luck. There is an element of luck to be sure, but if you grab every power up on the way up that first stretch 8 times of 10 you will get multiple aspect master buffs. I don’t forget you can have an aspect master activated and one in your bar waiting to be activated. That is a hell of a lot of mobility coming your way. If used right, no one can keep up with that.

As for giving away first, I was against this at first. I thought that people who wanted the achievement should earn it. As I said previously I could get 1st up to 9 times in a row. People would complain at me, tell me to leave, ect. I saw one guy consistently come in 2nd 3 or 4 times when I came in first. He didn’t say a word until the last time he said “A few more games until I get the frequent sprinter achievement and then will be it for me whether I get the first place achievement or not.” It dawned on me. He wasn’t enjoying himself. He wasn’t having fun with the competition between him and I, even though he was giving me a run for my money every time and I was having fun, he was doing it just for the points. Which considering we are rewarded for them now is a valid reason.

The next game I let him win. He was overjoyed, and thanked me profusely. He played his few more games and left. Letting that player win and seeing how grateful he was felt much better then beating everyone else all those times and coming in first..
..I give away 1st place now for the same reason I offer portals to the end of jumping puzzles. Not everyone enjoys the same thing and if it doesn’t hurt me to help them out I have no reason not to.

I have a very good ping, almost no lag ever, and even so I experienced occasional lag in the abilities and some rubberbanding. So that also tells me that no matter how hard some people try they are just not going to beat me if they have a pooring ping.
I have said in other posts that I think a lot of the content will be trivialized if they start designing it for people with bad pings. So that means I should be doing my part to help those people with the content that effects.

Anyway I know this has been too long of a post and if you are still reading I hope some of it has helped you.

-Try to mostly use skill 2 through a line of crystals, this way you get the speed boost and have it available again if you need it

-If you get light travel (skill 0) save it for a part you struggle on. For me it was the 2nd to last lightning-air jump area (and also apparently all the people ahead of me at the time had the same issue as I jumped from 8th to 1st)

Tips
-At the part of swirling door, grab an air crystal and jump to the upper platform where you can get orange and sun crystal. It can make a great distance.

-You are able to get light travel when below 5th in a full game. Sometimes even if I stay behind everyone for 30 sec at the start. I can still win due to 2 well use light travel. Sometimes I get 3 light travel doing this trick.

-The first power up that may content light travel are the ones that behind the first waterfall. Grab all these power ups if you fall behind.

-The debating cheat method near the finish line is useful for saving time.

-Always go for the inner route. It’s faster. Unless you are having a lag issue with lighting pull.

-Using skill 2 cost endurance. However using upgrade version skill 2 (sun crystal/Aspect master) doesn’t. So don’t use dodge roll to waste your endurance.

-Orange crystal give swiftness which can make your skill 2 run faster and longer distance.

Basically I only pity those that keep losing due to lag issue. Everyone else can try to do better or luckier. My first 1st is pure luck that I join a 1 man only game(me).

CryxTryx.9208:

I saw one guy consistently come in 2nd 3 or 4 times when I came in first. He didn’t say a word until the last time he said “A few more games until I get the frequent sprinter achievement and then will be it for me whether I get the first place achievement or not.” It dawned on me. He wasn’t enjoying himself. He wasn’t having fun with the competition between him and I, even though he was giving me a run for my money every time and I was having fun, he was doing it just for the points. Which considering we are rewarded for them now is a valid reason.

That basically sums up my criticism of this achievement and many of the achievements in the game these days. I wish ArenaNet was a quality over quantity developer, but with their fortnightly updates pushing out poorly polished content and achievements for the sake of achievements, that’s unfortunately not the case.

Shiren.9532:

CryxTryx.9208:

I saw one guy consistently come in 2nd 3 or 4 times when I came in first. He didn’t say a word until the last time he said “A few more games until I get the frequent sprinter achievement and then will be it for me whether I get the first place achievement or not.” It dawned on me. He wasn’t enjoying himself. He wasn’t having fun with the competition between him and I, even though he was giving me a run for my money every time and I was having fun, he was doing it just for the points. Which considering we are rewarded for them now is a valid reason.

That basically sums up my criticism of this achievement and many of the achievements in the game these days. I wish ArenaNet was a quality over quantity developer, but with their fortnightly updates pushing out poorly polished content and achievements for the sake of achievements, that’s unfortunately not the case.

To this I would say that the player shares the responsibility for ensuring that he or she enjoys the game they are playing.

Everyone wants different things out of a game. I personally love this recent update. I’ve had so much fun in the sprint, I think the Bazaar is tons of fun, I’ve had fun hunting for the big kites.

The only thing I didn’t like about this patch were running around trying to loot those smaller kites and finding all the sky crystals. So guess what, I didn’t do them!

In the post above I did have sympathy for that player and I let him so he could get out of the content he was not enjoying, but in the same token, If I was him I would never have been there in the first place.

People say they are forced to do cotent they don’t to do to get the rewards. To me that is BS. Because there is no content in this game that is gated behind gear or progression, there is no content that is force.

He wanted the title ‘Sanctum Sprinter’ but he didn’t like to sprint. That confuses me. Were the 5-15 achievment points worth all that frustration? Not to me.

Do the content you enjoy.