Guild Wars 2

I, and others, have talked a lot about how rather than RNG + grinding mats, we’d like to have getting a legendary just plain be hard. Requiring content on par with the Halloween jumping puzzle (which I still haven’t completed … QQ lol) is sort of the type of thing I had in mind. It’s hard, it takes skill, and you have to do it yourself. It should also keep things on the rare side.

Just throwing this out there in case you guys rethink precursors/add more legendaries later that require a different method of acquisition. Would really bring the bragging rights and make it feel like an accomplishment of skill, instead of one of luck/tolerance for grind.

Mad king clocktower is pretty easy. I’ve done it 5 times since release, 2 of those had been back to back. I think its harder to make the gold necessary for the legendary then it is to do the clocktower.

Lol see, I knew someone would post that. There are really good platformers out there, and I don’t begrudge them that. But based on in-game and forums, a lot of people are not finding it easy.

Gold … eventually, if you keep at it, you can earn it. Maybe not as fast as the next guy, but you can do it. There’s also the gems-to-gold thing for the RL wealthy (and, imo, stupid, lol). If you don’t have/develop platforming skills, you’re absolutely not getting to the top of that tower. And it’s not something that guildmates can farm for you, or that you can buy with real money, or that you can grind for.

My idea was not, “Do one jumping puzzle, get precursor!” but rather to suggest a series of challenges like this one, perhaps each dropping a unique component from the chest at the end. Ideally it wouldn’t simply be jumping, but could include “elite” PvE content (like Underworld was, group dies you get kicked out of instance), require WvW achievements (other than badges that can easily be farmed from the jumping puzzle if your world is dominating) etc.

I had hoped getting a legendary would require many unique, difficult challenges (that will play to different strengths but be unable to be completed for you by others) rather than just a long slog gathering karma and gold and materials. I don’t so much mind even the materials, because at the least it requires dedication. RNG is just such an unsatisfying concept to me.

Of course. Any sort of real gameplay challenge is superior over RNG.

Ye, I doubt I’ll ever feel as proud about my legendary once I obtain it than I did when I finally got into the tower after 4 hours of non-stop attempts. That’s some bragging rights material right there.

The time investment is much smaller of course, but when every minute of those 4 hours felt more legendary than anything I’ve done so far to make gold or karma for the legendary weapon, it really makes you think…

A series of hardcore challenges like this one would always be a better option. Even if I never did it this way because there was some challenge that I just couldn’t complete, at least I would have no one to blame but myself.

Yeah, I gotta find some time tonight to try that puzzle again.

Anyways, I’d also considered rather than dropping unique items required, they drop recipes that are accountbound. Lots of recipes to combine into other recipes could equal quite a bit of materials (equal to whatever they want the sweet spot to be vs. Mystic Forge dumping).

i think you’re on a right track. say for e.g. the clock tower jumping puzzle, is it one of the tougher jumping puzzles in the game thus far? i haven’t completed it yet but it’s definitely honed my jumping skills (and traversing the world is so much easier now). and like you said, not just one jumpin gpuzzle to get a pre-cursor, but take all the elements of the game —> jumping / platforming, hunting, exploring, fighting ONE giant boss, fighting a giant mob and surviving, etc etc and what have you.. if they all pose a great challenge, or maybe 4 things you can get a pre-cursor. as opposed to the mystic forge get lucky method.

The forum would be flooded with people talking about how they can’t complete said content, just like what happened the clocktower.

But yea i agree that adding a hard mode to let’s say, dungeon, with chance of precursors would be nice.

The meager reward that it has right now is enough to make people complain about not being able to finish this. While I personally like the idea I think the community would struggle with any method of gaining a legendary other than the tried and true time spent = legendary