Guild Wars 2

The jumping puzzle is a joke right?

Listen to your audience. IT IS NOT FUN. What part of that do you not understand?You will lose players over this design, and your unwillingness to change it. Here’s your chance to prove you are better than the rest Arena Net.

Also, do you guys have a usability department? Do you know the stats on disabled gamers? Especially in MMOs… Another reason why making it this difficult was a bad choice. I have a few friends, who because it is timed and because of their disability they simply can NOT complete this. I just want to bonk all the producers who green lit this feature, so disappointing. Special events should be light hearted, fun, and reasonable to complete for the entire population, not a select few who are master platformers.

Anyone who has poor reflexes, arthritis, joint pain, or any kind of injury with their hand might as well give up on this.

Here’s a couple things you could do make it better, and more usable for EVERYONE.
1. Make it a solo instance so players can see and not have to deal with 15 other Norn and Charr models.
2. Slow down the ooze doesn’t need to be a ton but just may 15-20%. It will still be challenging but give some buffer to those who need it.
3. Remove the pause points where the platforms spawn.

Let’s make this game awesome and fun for everyone, not just the elite gaming crowd that have spent thousands of hours playing platformers or those with super human hand eye coordination. Shouldn’t the holiday events be light hearted and enjoyed by all?

PS – Have you guys read reddit, oh man you have some not happy people out there. As a long time fan, please please fix this.
Edited by moderator: a paragraph was removed for infraction

1)Its profession dependent
Air attuned elemental with traits has speed bonus. Warrior dont have. Why some classes have advantage over others in here? Speed movement is very important here.
2)Waiting time.
If you do this thing for 1 hour, just to know, minimum 40 minutes you will spent waiting. Yes, it is a minimum, in reality it is more I guess. Standing still, doing nothing, watching this cinematic. Why waste our time so badly?
3)Another players (especially norns)
Huge models, they just blocking your view. Camera is horrible. Why did you make this group event? Well, I guess why, but couldnt you at least find better decision? match each race with each other, norns with norns, asuras with asuras?
And finally, its really a bit too hard. Yes, that is not a good reason, lets call it challenging. But its not fair at least, not equal for every player.

Now, after few hours of trying it just annoys me.

Unless I’m mistaken, passive speed buffs don’t apply in the tower.

Sigil passives don’t. Traits do.

The only reason I hate the clock tower is the same reason I hate a lot of RPGs — get to the top, fail, redo everything with all the cutscenes.

You are annoyed now. But once you complete it. It will be rewarding.

Did it with 0 speed bonuses. And I’m an elementalist.

Waiting time isnt -that- long.

The last one, is a semi-valid complaint. They shoudl have just turned everyone into spiders or something.

biggest problem is all the people, Especially for Asura like myself. it makes it hard to judge jumps properly, sometimes impossible it’s a norn blockin.

‘’once you complete it it will be rewarding’’

yeah sure, if you can complete it. Ive been trying for 5hrs, and its impossible for me. Ive given up on my emissary of the mad king title, because I simply cant get it

It’s fine. It just takes a lot of tries before you get it. Get over it. I’m getting pretty annoyed with the " I want it now for 0% effort mentality".

The main problem I’m having is there are too many people blocking my character. I would love to just wait for them to go ahead and then go, but I can’t do that since it’s timed. It’s very difficult to see where you are jumping when your small character is blocked by a Norn.

Also the fact that the camera will completely shift and show me an up close image of a rock is not helping either.

At this point it is not skill, just luck that you don’t happen to have too many large characters in your group.

The problem, and the only problem, is that it needs to have a solo mode. There’s absolutely no reason it shouldn’t beyond Arena Nets desire to keep the number of instances down and if that’s reasonable enough…

Except that it makes the puzzle far harder than its suppose to be because you can’t see.

I dont want it to take zero effort. I want it to be doable. The main problem im having is the gas. If it just moved a bit slower that would do the trick. Ive failed so many times jumping to the lower platform only to find it covered in gas.. If you can do it, great. But I cant.

Volcane Crucio.4723:

It’s fine. It just takes a lot of tries before you get it. Get over it. I’m getting pretty annoyed with the " I want it now for 0% effort mentality".

For some it’s not about 0 effort, it’s just that we’d like to not have 20 people blocking our view on a timed jp

Volcane Crucio.4723:

It’s fine. It just takes a lot of tries before you get it. Get over it. I’m getting pretty annoyed with the " I want it now for 0% effort mentality".

There is no reason to be rude to those that aren’t enjoying this particular jp. They want it to be less challenging because it’s ridiculously difficult for some of us. Good for you that you got it, but I am pretty annoyed with the amount of tries I have to put in to even get part way up the tower, I am annoyed that this is a holiday jp that won’t be around long enough for me to really master it because I have a life. I am annoyed that this is what they chose to give us when we were expecting something lighthearted and fun for the holiday. I am annoyed that others expect me to put in hours upon hours of my life into this just to get to the top. The time does not equal the reward at the end.

I gotta agree, there is no reason to have to have everyone running in a mob, it’s just making it nearly impossible for us asura (or anyone that isn’t a norn) to see the platforms to jump on, or even see my character… it’s plenty hard enough with the turning and the vortex coming to “swallow” you, anet could remove the que and let ppl enter the puzzle alone or at least not all in a mob… this feature definately make this part of the game “unfun”

Having other people in there with you is part of the challenge and part of the fun.

As you continually run the pattern you are committing the route to memory and it gets to the point where you can almost do it blind-folded.

Speed boosts are more of a hindrance than a help. The times someone fired off a speed boon in there it usually got a bunch of us to overshoot a jump and then grumble about it.

Everyone should strip their characters down for A ) Visibility, B ) take away any weapon speed boon abilities, and C ) because naked is the only way to roll.

I got to the Clock Face three times before successfully getting in there on the third clock face attempt. That was 1000x more frustrating than being in there with other people and I was alone when I made those jumps.

RainbowSyrup.4130:

‘’once you complete it it will be rewarding’’

yeah sure, if you can complete it. Ive been trying for 5hrs, and its impossible for me. Ive given up on my emissary of the mad king title, because I simply cant get it

The jumping puzzle doesn’t count towards the title, it only gives the achievement, so you can skip it.

Meh, made a level 2 Asura Engi to try it, I don’t think its fail at all, only took me 4 tries and was on smallest size.

1) No it is not. I’m a huge Norn Warrior and I’m always in front of the group. You don’t need a speed buff, at all.
2) If you fall down at the very beginning, you wait ~1 minue tops. If you fall down too much or other players reach further into the tower, leave, join again – you’ll be assigned to another party.
3) Whether a Norn or a Asura, the camera distance from your character is equal, regardless of race. I spent 2 hours there (I’m a Norn) and didn’t hear but one complaint about my char blocking the view.
Sure, it may be annoying for Asuras a bit but come on…

I won’t comment on the difficulty, to each it’s own. It was hard for me at first, but after having completed it, I’d say its mediocre at best.

The reasons behind the impression why people perceive it as hard is:
- they don’t start running fast enough (you don’t have to wait for that first floating platform to fully appear, you can jump on it before the animation starts…)
- they don’t hug the tower (stick to the right side), they stay either in the middle or left side of the general route
- they jump too much (you can omit many unnecessary jumps, gaining lots of time)

Practice, practice, practie, as practice makes perfection. You will eventually do it.

What I don’t understand is, every map has other players invisible but this one.

“I dont want it to take zero effort. I want it to be doable.”

It is doable. This is no different from Giganticus Lupicus.

I’m totally understanding about the visibility issues. It does get hard to see, but even then it’s possible, especially since 80% of the people fall off early on.

morningstories.8563:

There is no reason to be rude to those that aren’t enjoying this particular jp.

morningstories.8563:

….won’t be around long enough for me to really master it because I have a life.

:| – Accuse someone of being rude, then in same breath accuse him of not having a life. Let’s keep things civil…

This freaking thing is impossibly hard. Been at it for 7 hours now.

Finished it on my 73 mes and 12 necro. No speed buffs. In fact, we all yelled at a charr who was using banner speed buffs cuz that made it harder for the rest of us. It’s very possible at normal speed.

The waiting time is there because other players are in the instance, so fixing the other player problem would take care of the waiting time as well. If there must be other players, I would prefer the instance be limited to 5 people, like a dungeon.

Haette.2701:

“I dont want it to take zero effort. I want it to be doable.”

It is doable. This is no different from Giganticus Lupicus.

I’m totally understanding about the visibility issues. It does get hard to see, but even then it’s possible, especially since 80% of the people fall off early on.

It is not doable for me. Ive spent 5hrs in that puzzle, it is way too hard for a puzzle that is only around for a limited time. If it was permanent I wouldnt give a kitten

Haette.2701:

I’m totally understanding about the visibility issues. It does get hard to see, but even then it’s possible, especially since 80% of the people fall off early on.

This. I have done it with a charr and an asura. There isn’t that much of a difference.

The problem is that most people fall at certain areas – soon after 2nd “start” – Tiny Square to ramp – Rock to beam jump. Basically if you make it to the tiny square to ramp you will notice about 90% of other players has fallen. When I did it it was usually 3-4 people left at that point. Then the beam jump took some. Then it was left with two.

Literally after the “Leap of faith” (Which is actually the worst design choice as it took me 4 times to give up and look up a guide), it is smooth sailing other than camera – the real issue heh.

Done it on my elementalist with the passive arcane stance speed. I did it for a friend – who has little patience for these type of things – on his account (warrior) without the speed and it made little difference at all. Speed has nothing to do with it, just know what to do.

I can personally vouch that traits or any passive skills that give speed are not needed. I have done this on both my Warrior and Guardian- both of them not using any traits of the like.

First point before I talk about the others. The JP does not count to the title
1) I’m glad it is hard and I would would say boosts only help if you are used to them as all it affects that matters is the timing, otherwise it can be done fine (from a slow warrior)
But if you really want speed you can bring in a banner with you but prepare for everyone to hate you (as it will throw off their timing).

2) I would say be more patient, as someone who took absolutely forever to memorize the path (only the first half before the leap of faith is hard). Bring some tonics and have a costume brawl while you wait if you must (I did, lots of fun)

3) I agree with you but a good trick is to do it with someone in your party and Ctrl+t them and they do the same to you, then you have a big marker above your head

And finally being to hard to do doesn’t equal bad, it equals a challenge! People like me who like that finally get a JP and people that don’t wont lose their title for others fun. Just as I wouldn’t go around saying “all JP’s should be this hard!” because it would ruin others fun even though I can find it rather boring, I really don’t like it when others call for easier things because they don’t like it. But I would put it in this perspective, you get an exotic, you need to put the effort equivalent to the items you’d need to collect (more than 7 hours even)

Finally I’d suggest watching a video of it being completed, it helps a lot.

TerryLong.9561:

You are annoyed now. But once you complete it. It will be rewarding.

No, once you complete it you will feel relieved. There’s a difference.

Completing the Clock Tower, at this point, is more a matter of luck in terms of group composition and race selection than a demonstration of skill.

If you’re a human in a group of asuras, you’ll probably complete it >50% of the times. If you’re an asura in a group of norn and / or charr, you’ll probably complete it <5% of the times.

That is evidence of bad design and poor testing.

And it would be easily solved by making it a solo / party instance. People should be “fighting” the jumps and the timer, not fighting the blocked view and buggy camera.

I finally made it as a norn thief. I did have a few people griping about my character’s size, unfortunately, and it actually felt sort of awful. I didn’t know there would be events with timed jumping puzzles when I created my main, yet I am insulted for being a bigger character. Ah well, I will never have to do it again.

Ryuujin.8236:

morningstories.8563:

There is no reason to be rude to those that aren’t enjoying this particular jp.

morningstories.8563:

….won’t be around long enough for me to really master it because I have a life.

:| – Accuse someone of being rude, then in same breath accuse him of not having a life. Let’s keep things civil…

I admit it was a poor choice of words, I was only meaning that I don’t have the time to dedicate that everyone is claiming that it takes.

I stopped after not too long because I couldn’t see myself at all (Asura). I would spend literally the entire time inside a mass of other characters. I’d like it to be a bit easier so I can actually do it. As it is, too hard for me; I guess I don’t get the prize. It’s not like there isn’t a bunch of other things to do, so I move on.

Volcane Crucio.4723:

It’s fine. It just takes a lot of tries before you get it. Get over it. I’m getting pretty annoyed with the " I want it now for 0% effort mentality".

The guy says he’s been doing it for five hours, most people in my guild have been doing it for 4+. a few got lucky perfect runs early on. no effort? right.

Six hours here. Still really annoyed by the charr and norn.

It is really difficult, but it has to be for what you get. After finishing it once, I was able to do it multiple times without a problem. It’s just like playing an old NES game, be determined enough and you’ll get it.

The clock tower is full of fail. As an Asura I can’t see kitten. Anet disappoints again. Hire a kittening QA/QC team.

After my HOURS of attempts, I find that I get most messed up when grouped with other people. A vast majority of my fails come from not being able to see my character at all in the crowd. During the times I do get past them, I fail, but get farther with each attempt.

I’m not even bothering about it this year. There are too many people who are actually -trying- to block people and if something in a game isn’t fun…I say “kitten it” and move on. Would i like to have the achievement? Sure. I enjoy collecting achievements etc but there comes a time when I weigh a pixelated “achievement” which means absolutely nothing and will be forgotten in a week or two against the “fun” I’m having in trying to achieve it. If the “fun” is sucked out of it…and I play a game to have fun…then why bother? If I’m getting all stressed out and pissed off by a bunch of pixels, it’s way past time for me to move on to something else. Eventually that will mean the game in its entirety.

RainbowSyrup.4130:

Haette.2701:

“I dont want it to take zero effort. I want it to be doable.”

It is doable. This is no different from Giganticus Lupicus.

I’m totally understanding about the visibility issues. It does get hard to see, but even then it’s possible, especially since 80% of the people fall off early on.

It is not doable for me. Ive spent 5hrs in that puzzle, it is way too hard for a puzzle that is only around for a limited time. If it was permanent I wouldnt give a kitten

Then the simple, blunt answer is that you just won’t be able to complete it. All content does not come with a pre requisite that it must be able to be done by anyone no matter what. As others have noted in this thread, it’s very doable. Nerfing it would make it trivial. This is a learning process, but if after 5 hours you aren’t nearly completing it, or progressing, then it just isn’t for you.

As a norn warrior I would like to say this puzzle is impossable, the cordination and dexterity needed, you have to keep jumping the turn lag does not help and turning as much as you have to sometime you trigger a roll …. not good design.

Account.9832:

TerryLong.9561:

You are annoyed now. But once you complete it. It will be rewarding.

No, once you complete it you will feel relieved. There’s a difference.

Completing the Clock Tower, at this point, is more a matter of luck in terms of group composition and race selection than a demonstration of skill.

If you’re a human in a group of asuras, you’ll probably complete it >50% of the times. If you’re an asura in a group of norn and / or charr, you’ll probably complete it <5% of the times.

That is evidence of bad design and poor testing.

And it would be easily solved by making it a solo / party instance. People should be “fighting” the jumps and the timer, not fighting the blocked view and buggy camera.

There is no evidence of anything of the sort, you just pulled a bunch of numbers from your behind. The jumping puzzle can be chaotic at the start, but if you have any decency in just learning what to do, you will complete it. If you fail, it is your fault. You can basically memorize the start for crying out loud, at which point you usually pull away from the pack anyway.

The puzzle seems like alot ah fun, but yeah, the blocking is hard ta work with when you can’t see ta jump. I’m jus’ gonna wait until an hour when there are fewer people on an’ try again.

Please make it solo!

Karthaugh.6532:

Volcane Crucio.4723:

It’s fine. It just takes a lot of tries before you get it. Get over it. I’m getting pretty annoyed with the " I want it now for 0% effort mentality".

The guy says he’s been doing it for five hours, most people in my guild have been doing it for 4+. a few got lucky perfect runs early on. no effort? right.

It’s not about effort. Trying for 5 hours doesn’t mean you should be able to do it. You actually need to have the ability to learn and adapt. If you don’t… then you don’t get the reward? Pretty simple.

Dont know what ur talking about I enjoyed it.

morningstories.8563:

Volcane Crucio.4723:

It’s fine. It just takes a lot of tries before you get it. Get over it. I’m getting pretty annoyed with the " I want it now for 0% effort mentality".

There is no reason to be rude to those that aren’t enjoying this particular jp. They want it to be less challenging because it’s ridiculously difficult for some of us. Good for you that you got it, but I am pretty annoyed with the amount of tries I have to put in to even get part way up the tower, I am annoyed that this is a holiday jp that won’t be around long enough for me to really master it because I have a life. I am annoyed that this is what they chose to give us when we were expecting something lighthearted and fun for the holiday. I am annoyed that others expect me to put in hours upon hours of my life into this just to get to the top. The time does not equal the reward at the end.

How am I rude? Please don’t put names on people disagreeing with you. “We were expecting something light hearted”, speak for yourself, don’t use the ’’we’’ form. A challenge is a perfect way to test yourself. The bigger the challenge, the more rewarding for making it to the top. Perhaps the reward for making it to the end is the feeling of finally having beaten it. The loot it just a pleasant side effect. To me you are suggesting you don’t even like to give it multiple tries. Since you think in the following way; Time > Loot. You’d much rather just have the loot and get it over with, without investing in time by fault and error. There is no motivation in you in kicking some puzzle kitten by finally getting to the top, even if it takes A LOT of tries.

You think I got it in one go? You think I wasn’t annoyed by the amount of people around me? You think I didn’t find it difficult at first? You think I wasn’t annoyed with the waiting for the next cycle to start? Lets say we can all answer these questions with a yes, just for arguments sake. (oh wait, it is actually yes).

Does this mean the puzzle is bad and needs a nerf so we can all get to the top in 5 tries? NO, NO and while we’re at it, NO. It was a good challenge and I gave it my best because I was motivated enough not to get beaten by a kitten puzzle. This must mean I don’t have a life then? Seems legit. (sigh)

Boy it sure was a good feeling finally standing on top. You should give it a real go.

Ryuken.2789:

After my HOURS of attempts, I find that I get most messed up when grouped with other people. A vast majority of my fails come from not being able to see my character at all in the crowd. During the times I do get past them, I fail, but get farther with each attempt.

Just as a little tip, I tend to stay to the left on the first section of the tower. I stay on the far left side of the stairs on the way up, sit on the left side of the gear at the top, jump on the left tile after the explosion, wait a heartbeat for everybody to go by, then I swing to the right and do a few mini-hops to get to the next section right behind the pack. But when I do, I swing back to the left and stay on that side (jump onto the plank, then the little tile with the treasure box on it, then onto the upright gear) all the way until I hit that tiny square stepping stone.

By staying to the left as much as possible, and giving the other players a fraction of a second head start during the traversal of the wall explosion tiles, I guarantee that my character is out in plain sight during nearly the entire beginning section of the tower. And by the time I hit the middle section, there’s maybe 4 people left.

Greyfeld.7104:

Account.9832:

TerryLong.9561:

You are annoyed now. But once you complete it. It will be rewarding.

No, once you complete it you will feel relieved. There’s a difference.

Completing the Clock Tower, at this point, is more a matter of luck in terms of group composition and race selection than a demonstration of skill.

If you’re a human in a group of asuras, you’ll probably complete it >50% of the times. If you’re an asura in a group of norn and / or charr, you’ll probably complete it <5% of the times.

That is evidence of bad design and poor testing.

And it would be easily solved by making it a solo / party instance. People should be “fighting” the jumps and the timer, not fighting the blocked view and buggy camera.

I ran through this on my female norn, who uses the smallest body size. My group was regularly made up of about 50% char/norn who were all bigger than my character, about 40% humans, and one or two asura.

After about the first three runs, I had zero problem keeping track of my character. So, instead of complaining that the puzzle is bad, maybe you need to work out a way to suppress your ADD and keep your eyes focused on your character’s position for more than 20 seconds.

Since, you know, after about 20 seconds, there’s rarely more than a handful of characters left on the screen anyway.

Really? Imagine that, being able to pick out your Norn in a crowd. I don’t care if you are as small as a Norn can be; you are still bigger than most other races. It isn’t the ADD distracting me from my character’s postion. It is my Asura literally consumed by everyone else’s model’s from the very start of the puzzle. The only way I can actually see my character is to hang back a little bit, but that isn’t exactly helping me stay ahead of the the vortex…

Greyfeld.7104:

Account.9832:

If you’re a human in a group of asuras, you’ll probably complete it >50% of the times. If you’re an asura in a group of norn and / or charr, you’ll probably complete it <5% of the times.

That is evidence of bad design and poor testing.

I ran through this on my female norn, who uses the smallest body size.

The “smallest body size” for a norn is still about 3x the biggest body size for an Asura. And the camera target placement is different (norns don’t get the “bounce” when landing on platforms).

I play norn too (two, in fact, one male and one female). There’s absolutely no comparison. You, on the other hand, clearly haven’t even tried to do it on an asura.

Greyfeld.7104:

I had zero problem keeping track of my character.

…with the biggest race in the game. Well, congratulations on proving my point.

Go on, roll an asura, join a group with 3 norn and 3 charr, and post the video. We’ll be waiting.