Guild Wars 2

Server: Desolation

Okay, with the new boss title tracks added in, I’ve been to boss hunting, which has been great fun for me. Now the only titles I am missing are shattered (which I need to do off-hours so there are less people killing him so fast) and the one with the shadow behemoth.

The problem is, swamp seems to be dormant 24/7 for me or I am very unlucky. Across 3 days (probably 15h+) I’ve been afking while doing other things, constantly monitoring if the meta-event chain would start but nothing. Thus far I have believed that it’s on a timer and would spawn eventually but now I’m starting to wonder if there is some specific trigger. Anyone know anything about this? Does anyone have any consistent way to start it or do I just have to keep afking? Any possibility it’s bugged?

Thanks in advance!

P.S. Actually my first and only time I’ve seen the behemoth was within first hours of the game 3-day headstart launch. Chest had epic loot for my back-then 9-lvl ele

+1 /// i was camping him for sooo long… and still cant see him

Saw him two days ago on Stormbluff Isle. I don’t know what the trigger is to start the event so I have no idea how to help you.

To make him spawn you need to complete an event chain that begins completely randomly. There’s no way to start this manually and it isn’t on a timer. People have said he’s popped every 30 mins on their realm, and others haven’t seen him for a whole day, it seems you’re just unlucky.

I’ve been camping him and the Hydra Queen for days now but I just can’t seem to be able to make them spawn. Did Shatterer several times as well but he never put people in crystals so I can’t finish my achievement. Really annoying. Gandara server.

Server: Tarnished Coast.

I’ve only seen the Shadow Behemoth once myself too. People often say that the Secrets event chain triggers only once every 3 hours, but I’m convinced there must be an additional trigger to the Secrets event chain beyond simply the passage of time. I once stood around in Queensdale around the swamp for well over 5 hours and the quest still did not start.

Going from other meta-chains, like Wychmire Swamp in Caledon Forest or Frozen Maw in Wayfarer Hills, it’s very likely that there’s a particular NPC we need to talk to in order to start the chain. (For example, Wychmire Swamp only triggers about once every 2 or 3 hours, but is started by talking to Gamarien at Falias Thorpe.) That NPC, in turn, may need another quest to be complete before he’ll offer his quest (Scholar Brogun, for instance, won’t start his quest chain until you defend Tor the Tall’s homestead from the grawl.)

Does anyone who’s done Shadow Behemoth recently remember if there was any particular NPC giving a victory speech or somesuch after the event was over? That might help us narrow it down.

If not, we need to do a wider sweep around Godslost Swamp and the surrounding regions looking for named NPCs that don’t seem to be doing anything. More than likely, one of them is the trigger. (I very much doubt it is the Necromancer in the middle of the swamp, as I’ve visited him multiple times without success.) It’s not unheard of for NPCs to travel a considerable distance from their original starting point, so we may need to look as far away as Beetletun or Claypool.

It’s also possible that the NPC that triggers the Secrets meta-event only shows up when one of the surrounding areas is under Seraph or (more unlikely) Centaur control. Keep an eye out for any NPCs in Heartwood Pass and Holdland Camp that are talking about the swamp.

I did see the Shadow Behemoth 2 nights ago. Unfortunately, I do not know if anything triggered the first meta events. When I walked up, the first part of the chain (closing undead portals around the swamp) was already active.

I initially thought it had something to do with that NPC that is trying to open a portal to the underworld with her ritual, and that you have to do it a certain amount of times depending on whether it’s day or night from the book she’s reading, but I don’t know.

I haven’t seem him since launch, though I haven’t really spent a large amount of time in Queensdale like I did during the beta weekends.

been camping this for a few hours every day (2 to a max of 7) since the start of Halloween. Every single day, hours there, killing everything, talking to all npcs, doing anything I can think of, and nothing.

The ONLY theory I’ve seen so far is the npc that spawns the vet. Tried that countless time (once I just stood there for 3 hours spawning the vet over and over), and still nothing.

Talk to all my friends that are trying this, same result.

Ask in map every time I zone in, no one reports seeing the Behemoth.

This is driving me crazy

Server: Tarnished Coast

I’m AFKing in Queensdale right now as I type this post. I’ve been doing this frequently throughout the week. I’ve completed Queensdale 100% with one character. I’ve also killed some types of enemies (spiders, etc) to 1,000 for the slayer achievement on another character as something do while waiting for this thing to spawn. I’ve also completed my pumping carvings, haunted doors, candy corns, and other achievements in this area too. Needless to say, I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Queensdale and the events leading up to the boss never started. I’m starting to think that these Halloween events are somehow interfering. Before Halloween, I could just accidentally run into the Shadow Bahemoth easily.

A new theory I heard last night is that certain large meta-events will only trigger once a critical mass of players in the area has been reached. This may explain why certain events like the Frozen Maw restart so frequently (lots of people tend to hang around the area thanks to the proximity of the crafters and several renown Hearts), but others like Secrets in the Swamp are so rare because Godslost Swamp is quite far off the beaten track and there is only one renown Heart in the area, meaning few people visit the area.

I’m going to try testing this this weekend by asking for a large number of volunteers to gather in Godslost Swamp and hanging around for a while.

Can the devs confirm on that last one? About 5 people from my guild are camping in the swamp (we take shifts) for nearly 3 days now and we havent seen him even once (Aurora Glade server)…

Zaxares.5419:

A new theory I heard last night is that certain large meta-events will only trigger once a critical mass of players in the area has been reached. This may explain why certain events like the Frozen Maw restart so frequently (lots of people tend to hang around the area thanks to the proximity of the crafters and several renown Hearts), but others like Secrets in the Swamp are so rare because Godslost Swamp is quite far off the beaten track and there is only one renown Heart in the area, meaning few people visit the area.

I’m going to try testing this this weekend by asking for a large number of volunteers to gather in Godslost Swamp and hanging around for a while.

Most definitely not. I saw him yesterday, and I was there, there were only 3-4 players wandering around. I wanted to fight him, but the event was bugged. The 3 portals were just standing there and they couldn’t be destroyed, neither was the objective to do so given in the top right corner.

I admit I would like to know what exactly is needed to get that event running, just so I know if there is a bug on my server (whiteside ridge) or if none of the players have activated the trigger in the last couple of days.

i wish to no to how to trigger it i w8 atm so 6 hours ad the swamp server black gate
but stil none

some say it works with a time clock ??
but when and how late ??

i wish a GM can tell us more how to trigger it wil be handy

Starscream.6498:

Zaxares.5419:

A new theory I heard last night is that certain large meta-events will only trigger once a critical mass of players in the area has been reached. This may explain why certain events like the Frozen Maw restart so frequently (lots of people tend to hang around the area thanks to the proximity of the crafters and several renown Hearts), but others like Secrets in the Swamp are so rare because Godslost Swamp is quite far off the beaten track and there is only one renown Heart in the area, meaning few people visit the area.

I’m going to try testing this this weekend by asking for a large number of volunteers to gather in Godslost Swamp and hanging around for a while.

Most definitely not. I saw him yesterday, and I was there, there were only 3-4 players wandering around. I wanted to fight him, but the event was bugged. The 3 portals were just standing there and they couldn’t be destroyed, neither was the objective to do so given in the top right corner.

So you have failed me again, Starscream…

Heh, couldn’t resist. But OK, it seems like the theory is debunked then. I was also there for about 3 hours or so on the weekend and there were a fair number of players hanging around Godslost Swamp (about 5 or 6 in the Monastery, 2 people in Greatheart Weald, a few in the swamp itself and I think there were also a few in the Tamnin Foothills), and the chain still failed to start.

I think there might indeed be a bug that is causing the Swamp chain to not fire. Perhaps we need to raise it as a bug report, just in case.

8 hours of sitting in the swamps and nothing.

Zaxares.5419:

Starscream.6498:

Zaxares.5419:

A new theory I heard last night is that certain large meta-events will only trigger once a critical mass of players in the area has been reached. This may explain why certain events like the Frozen Maw restart so frequently (lots of people tend to hang around the area thanks to the proximity of the crafters and several renown Hearts), but others like Secrets in the Swamp are so rare because Godslost Swamp is quite far off the beaten track and there is only one renown Heart in the area, meaning few people visit the area.

I’m going to try testing this this weekend by asking for a large number of volunteers to gather in Godslost Swamp and hanging around for a while.

Most definitely not. I saw him yesterday, and I was there, there were only 3-4 players wandering around. I wanted to fight him, but the event was bugged. The 3 portals were just standing there and they couldn’t be destroyed, neither was the objective to do so given in the top right corner.

So you have failed me again, Starscream…

Heh, couldn’t resist. But OK, it seems like the theory is debunked then. I was also there for about 3 hours or so on the weekend and there were a fair number of players hanging around Godslost Swamp (about 5 or 6 in the Monastery, 2 people in Greatheart Weald, a few in the swamp itself and I think there were also a few in the Tamnin Foothills), and the chain still failed to start.

I think there might indeed be a bug that is causing the Swamp chain to not fire. Perhaps we need to raise it as a bug report, just in case.

“you have failed me YET again,”. People always forget that.

Already did post it in the bug section, but no reply. Well atleast for the portal bug. It quickly got overwhelmed by other bug reports.

Out of curiosity, which server are you on?

Northern Shiverpeaks, Same deal. It seems no one has figured out the pattern for this since it seems to be broken more often than it’s working. Is it time based? Is there a quest chain? Is it random? No one can figure it out, since right now the dragon doesn’t spawn at all. I also noticed the Ale supply to the fort in the swamp hardly ever triggers since the centaurs rarely even attack the monastery anymore. It’s fine if the world is changing and these events ebb and flow, but don’t make an achievement based on killing a dragon that never (or rarely ever) spawns.

Sea of Sorrows, I noticed the same thing in my 8 hours of wait. First 4 hours I just afked in the swamp, next 2 hours I went around killing portals and reading books and the last 2 hours I afked in the monastery and the centaur attacking event didnt start once.

I have yet to see this fight since the actual game released. Only fought it in BWE2 once.

Regarding the centaurs attacking the monastery, do the Seraph hold centaur lands in the Battle for Beetletun meta-event on your server? Because I think if they do (by occupying Holdland Camp), no centaurs will attack the monastery. The Seraph have consistently held the Camp on Tarnished Coast every time I’ve visited Queensdale, and I’ve never seen the ale escort mission or the monastery attack occur.

Another theory I’ve heard. Secrets in the Swamp spawns only if a period of time goes by WITHOUT players closing portals. If there are enough open portals in the Swamp, then the event chain starts.

This may be feasible as there are other events in the game which are possibly triggered through the inactions of players. One good example is in the Anthill in Metrica Province, where I believe the Veteran Chaos Creature spawns once a certain number of Skritt scavengers bring enough chaos material back to the central node. Players can stop the Skritt from bringing the material back as part of the Renown Heart in the area, but the Skritt are hard to talk to as they’re constantly moving so most players usually just opt to kill Irradiated Rats and clean up Chaos Material instead.

I’ve been camping this guy for days now on NSP. The only thing I’ve gotten during my time here is a serious case of trench foot.

I am pretty sure this guy is not working as intended. The other level 15 events aren’t like this.

Have never see him for two months since release. Then suddenly I was seeing him spawning three times in a day when Halloween started (Phase 1). Then not anymore again after that phase ended. Pretty weird because it is easy to spot the event (its a huge red event ring) if you are around and you usually spend a few hours in that area when leveling your alts.

They need to clarify how to trigger the event so at least we can help them to fix if it is not working as intended. The Fire Elemental event starts consistently but not this one. Human starter zone always has a lot more players so it is strange that you can hardly see this event. Definitely something needs to be done here.

Hologramx.6402:

Have never see him for two months since release. Then suddenly I was seeing him spawning three times in a day when Halloween started (Phase 1). Then not anymore again after that phase ended. Pretty weird because it is easy to spot the event (its a huge red event ring) if you are around and you usually spend a few hours in that area when leveling your alts.

They need to clarify how to trigger the event so at least we can help them to fix if it is not working as intended. The Fire Elemental event starts consistently but not this one. Human starter zone always has a lot more players so it is strange that you can hardly see this event. Definitely something needs to be done here.

Your experience might actually lend strength to the theory that it is triggered by players NOT destroying portals, Holo. During Halloween, it’s a safe bet that the vast majority of players were doing Halloween content in the Mad Realm or hanging out in LA, which means that very few players were in the swamp destroying portals. Once the event was over, people started returning to their usual PvE activities, and so the timer for the quest keeps getting reset.

However, if this IS the way the quest is getting triggered, it’s an extremely stupid way because it relies on players NOT doing something they would normally do as part of completing their Renown Heart. I really hope that ANet sees this thread and posts a response.

Zaxares.5419:

Your experience might actually lend strength to the theory that it is triggered by players NOT destroying portals, Holo. During Halloween, it’s a safe bet that the vast majority of players were doing Halloween content in the Mad Realm or hanging out in LA, which means that very few players were in the swamp destroying portals. Once the event was over, people started returning to their usual PvE activities, and so the timer for the quest keeps getting reset.

However, if this IS the way the quest is getting triggered, it’s an extremely stupid way because it relies on players NOT doing something they would normally do as part of completing their Renown Heart. I really hope that ANet sees this thread and posts a response.

I really doubt it has anything to do with players destroying the portals. I’ve seen Behemoth several times in first month of GW2 and there surely was more people doing that renown heart than there is these days. I have a feeling there is some bug involved in the chain tho, since after spending about 3 hours yesterday in the swamp, doing nearby events, I didn’t even see the brew escort quest to trigger once. I have no idea whenever it is related or not, but if that one didn’t spawn, despite about 10 or so people rotating around the area and monastery throughout those 3 hours I have a feeling something was not working correctly.

From what i know and have experimented in BWE and the first days of the game, the Shadow Behemoth spawns on a timer AND you have to do an event (talk with the scholars near the heart and kill the veteran mob that exits from the portal that appears).

The event doesn’t spawn it automatically. It has to be the right time (that could be the reason it can spawn two times in a row).

That’s how it worked in BWE. And it seem consistent with all your comments here.

Fabsm.5897:

From what i know and have experimented in BWE and the first days of the game, the Shadow Behemoth spawns on a timer AND you have to do an event (talk with the scholars near the heart and kill the veteran mob that exits from the portal that appears).

The event doesn’t spawn it automatically. It has to be the right time (that could be the reason it can spawn two times in a row).

That’s how it worked in BWE. And it seem consistent with all your comments here.

This is correct. Talk with the scholar NPC, kill the vet, and provided enough time has passed, the surrounding DE’s will trigger.

So get a feel for wen he last spawned and talk to the NPC 3 hours or so from that time.

Oreoz.2573:

Fabsm.5897:

From what i know and have experimented in BWE and the first days of the game, the Shadow Behemoth spawns on a timer AND you have to do an event (talk with the scholars near the heart and kill the veteran mob that exits from the portal that appears).

The event doesn’t spawn it automatically. It has to be the right time (that could be the reason it can spawn two times in a row).

That’s how it worked in BWE. And it seem consistent with all your comments here.

This is correct. Talk with the scholar NPC, kill the vet, and provided enough time has passed, the surrounding DE’s will trigger.

So get a feel for wen he last spawned and talk to the NPC 3 hours or so from that time.

Then it’s broken. We’ve done this on a Sunday over the course of about 8 hours and nada. We even stood there for about an hour spawning the vet over and over (from dusk till dark in game time).

Oreoz.2573:

Fabsm.5897:

From what i know and have experimented in BWE and the first days of the game, the Shadow Behemoth spawns on a timer AND you have to do an event (talk with the scholars near the heart and kill the veteran mob that exits from the portal that appears).

The event doesn’t spawn it automatically. It has to be the right time (that could be the reason it can spawn two times in a row).

That’s how it worked in BWE. And it seem consistent with all your comments here.

This is correct. Talk with the scholar NPC, kill the vet, and provided enough time has passed, the surrounding DE’s will trigger.

So get a feel for wen he last spawned and talk to the NPC 3 hours or so from that time.

Sorry but this is NOT correct. I have seen the behemoth spawn several times when the vet has not been spawned (I was standing there for hours so I would have see it happen). I do believe the event is broken as I have not seen it run since before the Halloween events but I am 100% certain that the Vet is not intended as the trigger for the event. This may have been a trigger in Beta but not anymore.

Doesn’t seem to be an exact trigger on this event. This event is either random or bugged.

Another bit of information that might help solve the puzzle. Does anyone know if the DE’s leading up to the Shadow Behemoth all spawn one after the other (similar to other meta-events like the Frozen Maw or Wychmire Swamp), or does each DE in the meta-event (closing Underworld portals in a specific location) spawn separately, and a good period of time may pass between one and the next?

In any case, it’s quite possible that the Swamp event chain is spawning so rarely (perhaps not at all on certain servers) that it may be bugged. I’m going to make a new thread in the Game Bugs forum to hopefully draw attention to this situation from a dev.

The thread I created in Game Bugs is here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Secrets-in-the-Swamp-Possibly-bugged/first#post665817

It’d be good if people were to post their experiences there as well as here, to increase the chances that a dev will spot the thread and look into it.

I seen him several times in one day when leveling an alt.

What server are you on, drifter? Someone from Stormbluff Isle posted in the Game Bugs thread that they did see him last night, so it seems that the Shadow Behemoth is working on some servers, but bugged on others.

Just an update that the dev team is aware of this issue now and is looking into it, although the fact that it’s an “edge case” (meaning that the Behemoth is working on some servers, but not on others) may mean that it takes them longer to pin down the reason for his absence.

munkiman.3068:

Oreoz.2573:

Fabsm.5897:

From what i know and have experimented in BWE and the first days of the game, the Shadow Behemoth spawns on a timer AND you have to do an event (talk with the scholars near the heart and kill the veteran mob that exits from the portal that appears).

The event doesn’t spawn it automatically. It has to be the right time (that could be the reason it can spawn two times in a row).

That’s how it worked in BWE. And it seem consistent with all your comments here.

This is correct. Talk with the scholar NPC, kill the vet, and provided enough time has passed, the surrounding DE’s will trigger.

So get a feel for wen he last spawned and talk to the NPC 3 hours or so from that time.

Then it’s broken. We’ve done this on a Sunday over the course of about 8 hours and nada. We even stood there for about an hour spawning the vet over and over (from dusk till dark in game time).

Current bugs notwithstanding, the DE’s that trigger wont show up on your HUD till youre in the vicinity. So after you kill the vet check the area around the swamp (outside the actual swamp) for any DEs that task you with closing more portals.

But it does seem there are bugs on some servers so be wary. Check the wiki for all the details concerning the event and where to go

Oreoz.2573:

munkiman.3068:

Oreoz.2573:

Fabsm.5897:

From what i know and have experimented in BWE and the first days of the game, the Shadow Behemoth spawns on a timer AND you have to do an event (talk with the scholars near the heart and kill the veteran mob that exits from the portal that appears).

The event doesn’t spawn it automatically. It has to be the right time (that could be the reason it can spawn two times in a row).

That’s how it worked in BWE. And it seem consistent with all your comments here.

This is correct. Talk with the scholar NPC, kill the vet, and provided enough time has passed, the surrounding DE’s will trigger.

So get a feel for wen he last spawned and talk to the NPC 3 hours or so from that time.

Then it’s broken. We’ve done this on a Sunday over the course of about 8 hours and nada. We even stood there for about an hour spawning the vet over and over (from dusk till dark in game time).

Current bugs notwithstanding, the DE’s that trigger wont show up on your HUD till youre in the vicinity. So after you kill the vet check the area around the swamp (outside the actual swamp) for any DEs that task you with closing more portals.

But it does seem there are bugs on some servers so be wary. Check the wiki for all the details concerning the event and where to go

As long as you are on the vicinity of the meta-event (the swamp), it does show the events that are further away if they are part of that meta-event chain.

Piken square have also not seen any behemot action in the 3 days i transfered to it, maybe the developpers hate Piken square?

I’ve never seen the Behemoth, ever. (Yak’s Bend)

I’m on Desolation (and have been since launch) and I’ve seen it 3 times. Once in the distance during a beta weekend, once during the launch weekend and once about 1 month in when I actually fought it but annoyingly my PC crashed before the fight ended and I didn’t get the chest.

I once spent 8 hours waiting, mostly afk but in the room and watching the screen and never saw either the Behemoth or the event chain start. I periodically went around the swamp and the neighbouring areas speaking to all the NPCs I could find to see if one of them triggered it as well and had no luck.

I’m almost certain it doesn’t trigger on either of the veteran fleshreavers coming out of the portals (the one in the camp or the Necromancers one). I’ve heard a lot of people say it happens but when I ask how they know it always seems to boil down to someone told them or they were standing near it and saw someone trigger the vet then either immediately or a short time later either the event chain started or the Behemoth itself appeared, either with or without the rest of the chain having happened.

The massive inconsistency is one of the main reasons I don’t think the two are connected. Considering you can spawn the vet at any time and in relatively quick succession I don’t find it hard to believe that people have seen it happen just before the event chain started, but I think if the two were directly connected it would be much more consistent. More people would have been able to make it happen and the result would be the same each time.

Mu guess at the moment is that it’s on a timer and bugged on some servers.

This may be common knowledge but I did not see it mentioned here (I may have just missed it though.

Per the GW2 Wiki, there are 2 dynamic events around Queensdale that need to occur for the Secrets in the Swamp Meta Event to begin.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Secrets_in_the_Swamp

Now my questions is, how do you get the other 3 going?

Danikat.8537:

Mu guess at the moment is that it’s on a timer and bugged on some servers.

That is correct. The devs have confirmed that this meta-event is broken on some servers. Evidently it’s supposed to trigger once every couple of hours (exact details aren’t known. It could be once every 1 – 3 hours) without any actions on the player’s part, but on some servers, the meta-event is failing to start altogether. Hopefully it will be addressed as part of the November patch.

Arylian.9348:

This may be common knowledge but I did not see it mentioned here (I may have just missed it though.

Per the GW2 Wiki, there are 2 dynamic events around Queensdale that need to occur for the Secrets in the Swamp Meta Event to begin.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Secrets_in_the_Swamp

Now my questions is, how do you get the other 3 going?

I have never seen the first part happen..Just seems to be stuck on the second part for ever

Well, no mention of Secrets in the Swamp in the November patch, although someone on Tarnished Coast did report seeing the Shadow Behemoth last night. This suggests that a server reset might have temporarily fixed it, so after the patch download, hang around for a while in the Godslost Swamp on your server and see if he spawns.

Just wanted to pop in and say that as of my own observation, Shadow Behemoth will spawn even if broken once after a server restart be it for a patch, maintenance, what have you.

Stormbluff Isles, the event is certainly broken and never seems to trigger however every time the servers restart the required meta events to trigger Shadow Behemoth pop up within a couple hours of said reset as though on its normal timer. As I said, this only happens once per reset though.

I’ve been paying attention to it since the beginning of October and this seems to be how the event behaves in its broken state.

I managed to complete the Secrets meta-event on Tarnished Coast once last Thursday (FINALLY!), and he popped up again over the weekend (although I didn’t see him personally, there were lots of people saying he was up in Map chat). Hopefully this means the server reset corrected whatever caused him to become broken in the first place, and he stays active!

Bumping this thread, Crystal Desert server, no sign of behemoth or event chain ever moving in weeks upon weeks. Could we get someone working on current bugged content before releasing new bugged content.

The first time I played through GW2 and even the second I didn’t get to do the Behemoth event because it just wasn’t spawning (Gandara) but when I replayed the zone with some friends on our newbie Norns a few weeks ago we got to kill it twice in the time it took us to do map completion. I think it triggers every three hours provided that an additional set of triggers has also been met. I am not totally sure though, looking forward to the wiki one day holding the answers.