Guild Wars 2

This has got to be the worst city out of them all. It’s so boring and frustrating.
For example, I apparently still have 3 POI inside imperator’s core, yet i’ve been around every inch of it and they still say they are above me.

Check out the minizones. There are 3 in that central “Citadel”. And I bet at least one of those POI are actually below you.

…but yes, the Black Citadel is a pain in the butt to explore.

Varil.8206:

Check out the minizones. There are 3 in that central “Citadel”. And I bet at least one of those POI are actually below you.

…but yes, the Black Citadel is a pain in the butt to explore.

I remember people having the same problem before, something about having to find another way in and it puts you in the core or something? Still can’t find it though =/
There is one that says it’s above the bane as well, i’ve stood on the spot it should be and got nothing….

It’s the closed doors that you need to go near. You will then be asked if you wish to enter the instance. It took me a long time to find them all, so hug the walls on all floors.
There is also a small prison at the very bottom, where you go down some stairs.

Tried all that =(
Will just give up with it. As a city that is suppose to ease people into exploring the world, it is designed so badly.

Then my suggestion would be that you just ask in the /map chat for someone to show you where the locations are.

On the second and third levels there are large, circular doors with guards flanking them from their respective legions. Ash/Blood are on the second level and Iron is on the third. The Ash/Blood areas are called “Tribune Headquarters” I think, and the Iron is called “Imperator Core”. That one has two POIs in it actually so don’t miss it.

I couldn’t disagree more.

It’s a highly organised structure, and you just need to understand the thinking behind it. It’s basically a massive factory-city-come-military-command-centre. And there’s nothing like it in any other MMORPG I’ve ever played. And to be honest, it has the best points of interest of any city.

It has a training ground for cubs, an area where tanks and cars are constructed, the horn of Rin and a massive gear which enables/disables it (I really liked that), the factorium (which is the best laid out crafting area of any city), the ghetto that is the glaidum canton, the command-core itself which looks almost like a fantasy deathstar, the gigantic efforts of impressive metalworking heralding their greatest heroes, and just… little things everywhere.

If you don’t enjoy it then you’re just not a *punk fan (mixed clockpunk and steampunk in this case), which is common. I’ve met plenty of *punk genre haters in my time. You’re quite common, actually. So common that *punk elements are often left out of games because developers are afraid of reprise.

This just leaves the Tolkien-esque generic fantasy pap, the amazingly dull kind of true fantasy, which is just medieval England with spells thrown in for good measure. Fantasy is supposed to be anything you can imagine! It’s not supposed to be generic. The Black Citadel is anything but generic.

If you don’t like it, speak for yourself and pick another race/city. I love it. It’s contrary to all the generic fantasy pap I’ve had forced down my throat over the last decade. Give me a Black Citadel over a more everyday fantasy city any day.

In the core you have the jail, its a small spot just as you enter turn to the right and its there. Sorta placed in between the main floor and the bane. That irritated me to no end.

I gave up exploring it. great game design if you cause your players to get so frustrated they give up with parts of the game, isn’t it =/

I thought The Black Citadel was easy. Know what confuses the hell out of me? Rata Sum.

I gave up Lion’s Arch and Divinity’s Reach, they are too big!!! More compact cities would be welcome.

Its not that bad

the good:
single floor for everything that’s not in the center. This is very logical. Much crisper and cleaner than grove, rata sum and divinity

area’s that arent in the walls! Neat little explorable segments out there

the bad:
the multiple floor segment is very confusing during your first time through it.

The instances are not well designed. Particularly the ash legion one. Doors arent obvious, and in the ash legion instance the door up to the tribunes room is literally right infront of you, but based on how it spawns you into the instance, everyone ive talked to assumed it was the door out (as you must walk through the instance leaving trigger zone to get close to it)

Overall it’s still my favorite town. The trading outpost guy is very close to all the crafters, and if you get lost it’s because you’re not really paying much attention. (I fail to see how people cant find anything in imperators core which has all the stairs in a central location, but say navigating the grove is a cakewalk when there’s 4 layers and the ramps are all over the place)

Rata Sum was harder to explore for me and finding the right vendor/station in the Grove is just terrible. Once you realise you have to come really close to the circular doors in the imperator’s core to enter an instance Black Citadel is quite easy.

The city I hate the most is divinity’s reach. Its just too large! and boring! Lion’s arch isnt so bad, its big but it has alot less crap in the way, and you can pretty much just run a circle and get most of it.
The citadel at least has very cool stuff to look at while you run around.

Bloodtau.4672:

This has got to be the worst city out of them all. It’s so boring and frustrating.
For example, I apparently still have 3 POI inside imperator’s core, yet i’ve been around every inch of it and they still say they are above me.

Some of them can be below you, and some of them are in instanced areas, such as where the Imperator’s office is.

I actually really enjoy the Black Citadel. Dunno what the rest of you are talking about.

I respectfully disagree. It’s actually much more coherent to me than most of the other starting cities.

I suppose it’s all about what works for you. I was constantly lost in the Norn city, for instance. And the Lion’s Arch is a nightmare.

I’m confused as to what everyone else is talking about. For me, the Black Citadel and Hoelbrak were the two easiest explores of the six cities. By far the worst was The Grove, since the vistas are such a pain to get to and city is so compact that it can be difficult to know from what level you’re supposed to approach something.

Of course, this is coming from a guy who mains Norn and Charr. Once you get used to them, all of the cities are pretty easy, you just need to make sure you enter all of the instanced areas.

As a kitty demon, I love my home town. Was so easy to 100% it just following my personal story. I have 90% of the world map done so far. Rata Sum wins hands down for I think I will /wrist myself if I ever visited it again. Those mutant midget rabbits did not intend large races to get around to easly.

BlueStripedTiger.3760:

I thought The Black Citadel was easy. Know what confuses the hell out of me? Rata Sum.

^ This.

Although, I will agree that discovering the different Tribune offices was a little challenging— but once I found one, I figured out the rest.

Bloodtau.4672:

This has got to be the worst city out of them all. It’s so boring and frustrating.

Boring? Really? We went from Charr carvings to Superior Charr carvings to THIS! It made me wonder if contractors consider moral issues before taking on a contract…

Frustrating? have you been to Divinity’s Reach? Oy vey.
I was aggravated by both in the beginning because my sense of direction kinda sucks and lack of camera zooming out to any useful distance. I didn’t leave it until I had Charrgrimmar 100% complete…“Patience….discipline”—oh, wait, wrong game.

Bloodtau.4672:

For example, I apparently still have 3 POI inside imperator’s core, yet i’ve been around every inch of it and they still say they are above me.

That was definitely the, “Where’s Sulu?” question. They are instanced; go through the sci-fi-like red doors.

I agree with AuldWolf in that BC’s crafting area is the best.

Of all the starter cities, Black citadel is my favorite by far. I am a big fan of the steampunk, so I’d actually like to live in a city like that for real! I’m really hoping the reference to the Circus Charricus still being “closed to the public at the moment” means it’s going to be a minigam ala Kegbrawl some day, steam wagon races would be amazing!

I have got 100% on each city, multiple times. The Black Citadel was definitely the most confusing. The biggest issue is that it is the only city that does not have a multi-tier map. The multiple instances are confusing the first time too. It was not until my third character that I was able to 100% this city without getting confused; the others I could do blindfolded my second time.

Rata Sum was the most easiest main city to explore. The Grove sucks, Black Citadel is kinda scary looking and a pain, Lions Arch so so, Divinity Reach meh.

I’ll admit, the minimap was being a bit obtuse at first with regards to the multileveled nature of the map, but I figured out the location of everything that first time through and haven’t had problems since. I still managed to 100% it my first time there. I still think it was the easiest.

I thought the citadel was one of the easier places to explore. It’s not a friggin’ maze of right angles like Divinity’s Reach.

The cities in GW2 are immense, beautiful, and like nothing I’ve ever seen in a game before. The Black Citadel is confusing at first, but slip on a pair of headphones and take in all that’s happening while you’re picking up all those POI’s. It really is very well done.

:)

Finished Rata Sum about two days ago and it’s the easiest of all the cites to complete. The Grove wasn’t hard either, but figuring out where the vistas actually were so I could start looking for ways to get up to them was confusing.

Divinity’s Reach was designed by a person who wanted to share their hatred of simplicity with us all. So. Much. Walking.

Rata Sum and The Grove, while they can be confusing at first, at least have map layers so you can get an idea where PoI/Vistas are.

Black Citadel has several floors, but a completely flattened map.

Bloodtau.4672:

This has got to be the worst city out of them all. It’s so boring and frustrating.
For example, I apparently still have 3 POI inside imperator’s core, yet i’ve been around every inch of it and they still say they are above me.

This is why I think your topic title is wrong, BC has lots of nooks and crannies to it for people to explore.
What you really mean is, it is bad for trying to 100% the map quickly without exploring.

You just have to bear in mind that every city is designed to specifically feel differently. Just as Rata Sum is about symmetry and angles and the Grove is about the natural ebb and flow of nature, the Black Citadel is about garnering a metallic, militaristic feel. Everything about it says “war”- even so much as down to the materials that make up the city. It’s about layers of iron and steel welded together to make a highly defensible base of operations for the Legions.

As for the PoI’s – make sure you’ve found your way both all the way up and all the way down every set of stairs. I’ve taken several of my guild members through the Black Citadel to a 100% completion mark. I had the same issue when I started my warrior. I can honestly say now, though, that learning the nuances of the layered exploration in the Black Citadel got me in a mindset of looking for Vistas and PoI’s in a different perspective. It also got me ready to explore all of the other main cities. Even Rata Sum was a breeze for me after I’d finished Black Citadel.

I know it’s difficult, but it’s definitely a rewarding feeling when you finally hit that 100%.

In all fairness, it isn’t really the most intuitive thing to enter so many instances (5!) to get a 100% map completion there—especially when you have never been there and are completely foreign to Charr design (one may not even think those big red things are even doors!).

That said, It is clearly the best city ever. Once you “get it,” it all makes sense.

I honestly don’t know why people complain about the Black Citadel, its easy to navigate through, then again I rolled Charr during the Beta so I might be a bit bias. I actually found the Sylvari home annoying to navigate through.

Given that you can see the instanced PoIs from outside the command core, it boggles the mind that people have so much trouble with them.

dono what you guys are talking about, i think the citidal is the easist place to explore, i hate looking for the POIs in LA, and other places Asura might be the easist except the one in the middle (VP) i cant seem to get that one, but other than that it is easy as hell :S

AuldWolf.7598:

If you don’t enjoy it then you’re just not a *punk fan (mixed clockpunk and steampunk in this case), which is common. I’ve met plenty of *punk genre haters in my time. You’re quite common, actually. So common that *punk elements are often left out of games because developers are afraid of reprise.

This just leaves the Tolkien-esque generic fantasy pap, the amazingly dull kind of true fantasy, which is just medieval England with spells thrown in for good measure. Fantasy is supposed to be anything you can imagine! It’s not supposed to be generic. The Black Citadel is anything but generic.

If you don’t like it, speak for yourself and pick another race/city. I love it. It’s contrary to all the generic fantasy pap I’ve had forced down my throat over the last decade. Give me a Black Citadel over a more everyday fantasy city any day.

What a sanctamonious little cretin you are.. Honestly, is that what you people call yourselves now? You have to invent a nice little subculture and segregate yourself intentionally, just in a pathetic attempt to rap off the sad little catchphrase you call your genre/lifestlye (seriously, you idiots would stick a cog on anything and call it steampunk, son, Fritz Lang beat you all to it.) just to try and patronise and condescend others over the glory of pipes and refinery? Smooth.

Also, way to completely miss the point, it’s not the location people dislike, it’s how irritating it can be for a lot of people to actually find their way around the place, yes it’s a very nicely made area with fine structures and very different locales, but most of these people aren’t going to give a toss about that when they’re busy being frustrated finding their way around.

Oh, I absolutely hate the Black Citadel. Exploring it is like exploring my basement. I hate the kitten out of it, but I NEED TO GET TO THE WASHING MACHINE.

I had no problem with the Black Citadel i never even thought of it as any kind of hard or “Frustrating” i just ran around stopped then looked around when i was doing it…

Seriously i believe its the best made city in the game just because its so original and new steam punk or not i like the style and the history in its construction its a real testament to a very proud race of Do or Die warriors.

I thought Rata Sum was original and cool too but then i couldn’t Auto-run while checking the map with out falling to my death and the fact that everything is layered on top of everything was a bit confusing…

Zeid Valentine.2603:

I thought Rata Sum was original and cool too but then i couldn’t Auto-run while checking the map with out falling to my death and the fact that everything is layered on top of everything was a bit confusing…

Rata’s small enough though that you don’t even really need auto run. And the levels are actually well put together – you don’t ever need to find a specific door or elevator to get to a specific place on another floor. The one problem with Citadel is the charr love winding staircases.

I know every (useful) NPC in the Citadel from memory.

LockeProposal.9437:

Oh, I absolutely hate the Black Citadel. Exploring it is like exploring my basement. I hate the kitten out of it, but I NEED TO GET TO THE WASHING MACHINE.

To be fair, if you can get lost in a basement, it’s probably not the city’s fault.

As a starting area I did find it a bit confusing but now I tend to head there because I just know exactly where everything is.

It was my first city to explore and it was all easy except the instanced areas in the core hiding POI’s. But I asked on map chat after being frustrated, and they clued me in to some of them being in instanced areas, and then it was easy for me. It just never occurred to me originally that they would have them inside instanced story-areas. Now of course, it seems obvious.

I loooooove the Black Citadel though. After getting 100% on all the towns on multiple characters, it is by far my favorite town.

i love the Black Citadel both weapons/armor smith is in the same spot i don’t have to run that much to make something.

Biggest problem is the city is flattened onto a single layer map, making it a PitA to explore. Nice city, horrible layout if you haven’t already 100% it once.

BlueStripedTiger.3760:

I thought The Black Citadel was easy. Know what confuses the hell out of me? Rata Sum.

as far as Map completion goes..

Black citadel is EASY.
Rata Sum isn’t bad.
Grove annoys me.
Div Reach isn’t bad, but lots of running
Hoelbrak is annoying due to it’s size.
Lion’s arch is just huge, most are easy to complete.

I got 100% on all 8 of my characters