Guild Wars 2

I love challenging content. I have never complained about anything Anet has added to them game content-wise when others have complained about difficulty. Even the Halloween jumping puzzle, I spent all day working on it and LOVED it. I don’t care about achievements, so I am never concerned about ability to do something, just about how much fun it is to actually do.

But this? It’s ridiculous. I don’t understand why World 1 was so much fun and World 2 is so frustrating. Ninjas are knocking me off anywhere and everywhere before I even have a chance. I thought the darts were fun, because I’d forget to slow down and run right into them. THAT was fun and challenging. But the ninja knock-backs were just frustrating especially when there were no shops to upgrade our sticks so we actually stood a chance before getting knocked around.

Then Zone 3? Such poor execution. I thought the slippery ice was fun, but half the time I was randomly jumping around huge structures that barely even protruded from the rocks. Do this for about 10 minutes, then kill a few things, then randomly jump on small protruding cliffs again for another 10 minutes. This is not fun and challenging jumping. It’s just tedious jumping. And half the time I thought there were secret areas and I would risk jumping for a few minutes thinking it was a secret area only to end up at a dead-end and have to turn around in an attempt to get back. Why would you even do this to people? The environment and layout was just boring. Rocks and Ice. Rocks and more ice. The only thing I enjoyed was the Q-bert area.

Then the end boss! The fight was fun but why…WHY would you make the boss reset if everyone in the party happens to die? My BF and I spent more time trying to prevent us from both being dead at the same time than we did actually fighting the boss. We kept looking over at each others screen more than our own. It didn’t help that the lightning sparks were constantly knocking us off. Can you please come up with interesting combat instead of resorting to all enemies having knock-back? It seems lazy.

I think the worst part is that we only have 2 lives now. I feel like I spent more time getting sent to the lava area, then having to click the hub icon, then having to re-enter the world than I did actually playing. Every death was not about learning what I needed to do next, or challenging, or “LOL oops, didn’t see that gap!” but one step closer to having to be sent out of the zone then back in. Decreasing lives seemed like either an easy way to get people to buy the infinite coin or just a cheap way to make the content “appear” more challenging.

I don’t understand how dramatically different World 1 and World 2 are and I’m not sure if I’m going to even waste my time attempting World 3 this weekend.

coffeeisyum.5297:

I don’t understand how dramatically different World 1 and World 2 are and I’m not sure if I’m going to even waste my time attempting World 3 this weekend.

If you thought World 2 was hard. Don’t bother with World 3. It’s super hard!

Josh foreman (creator of SAB) has formally apologized already. He acknowledged that he got carried away adding in mechanics and it ended up being to the detriment of the experience. World 2 is getting redesigned for the next time SAB is available. Regarding world 3, do it, it’s jut one level with like 5 jumps and no foes to get to the genie for a little story reveal.

I had no idea the creator formally apologized. I was actually trying to figure out if they changed designers from World 1 to World 2 because it was just so dramatically different.

I don’t want people to think I’m complaining about a challenge. I really love challenge and it’s the reason I enjoy GW2 so much, but World 2 just wasn’t a fun challenge. It was pure work. World 1 was so much fun. I remember jumping into the middle of the flowers and thinking “okay, don’t need to do that again!” Or the leaf area and falling into the acid, I remember squealing and jumping anxiously to a rock in hopes I wouldn’t die (more often than not, I died). But World 2 was just not fun.

I will try World 3 just to see what it’s about!

coffeeisyum.5297:

I will try World 3 just to see what it’s about!

in a word; Pain.

I don’t know if you guys are trolling or mixing up world 3 with zone 3….

The main problem for most people is that there were too many death pits, which if you screwed up by getting knocked off by assassins for instance would instantly kill you. Where in world 1 you could get knocked down, but you could just get right back up.

Then, alongside with that, were too many new mechanics that really didn’t have a place where you could get used to them. In bigger and longer levels.

Not so much bad designing, just a bit over enthousiastic.
All in all I still love world 2. And on top of that: certain things don’t work too well with the mechanics of an action mmo…

Well tribulation mode for world 1 is pretty reasonable other than some gamebreaking lag issues if you’re connection sucks.

Tribulation mode for world 2 means that those storm wizards skins are simply a far off dream with the amount of time I have to play.

I loved World 2, but I do agree it was a bit over enthusiastic. There were times my internet got really bad (Storming) and it was extremely aggravating. (Basically the game registered me doing one thing, when I wasn’t and I would insta-die for what seemed like no reason)

Going from World 1 to World 2, it’s definitely a difficulty spike and I didn’t really enjoy that. The whole time playing (especially through Zone 3) I kept thinking “I feel really bad for people who were casual players but loved World 1, World 2 must be way frustrating :/”

As for Tribulation Mode nearlight, there were only two spots that really sent me over the edge. World 1 Zone 2, those jumping rocks. I died on each one at least 60 times, because my internet was being a huge butt. (The first one at least 100 times before I quit, I did it this morning one try and never looked back, until I got to the next one when my internet was being a butt again, dang storms).

I love challenges, and Trib Mode was great fun, I just wish some of the mechanics in Trib Mode weren’t broken if you had bad internet, because if you do, there are some spots that are way harder than they need to be. World 2 was a great deal of fun, my only huge complaint was Zone 3 and it’s really asinine ledges, and all together to far apart check-points. Assassins knocking you off and having to run back from a far away check-point got old pretty quick. I’m looking forward to the reworked World 2 in the next SAB update, where I will try Trib mode for World 2, and run through W2 again on normal mode.

When you preface a topic with:

I love challenging content.

…and then spend the rest of your topic complaining about the difficulty of world 2, you lose a lot of credibility. You might look at your complaints as having nothing to do with difficulty, but everything you’re complaining about is part of world 2’s difficulty curve.

Also, there is in fact a shop in W2-2 where you can upgrade your pointy stick. you just didn’t spend enough time looking.

World 2 is hardly challenging. If you don’t like the assassins knocking you around then kill then rather than blast past them. You do not need the upgraded weapons to kill them.

People seriously need to play the older games.

Quark, how do I lose credibility? Because I like challenging content I should be some sort of masochist? lol ok.

How about let’s respect each others opinions of SAB? If you found SAB fun, then please express your opinion about the game, not the player who didn’t like it. I’m not complaining that I wasn’t able to do it. I finished it with only myself and my BF, fewer people than the recommended amount. So the difficulty was self-inflicted, but that’s beside the point. Because I like challenging content I should enjoy each death? I should cherish the tedious amount of time it takes me to jump from point A to point B? You’re missing the entire point of my post. It’s not about not being able to do it it’s about not having fun while doing it.

I didn’t “blast past” the assassins. Many people had trouble with the knock-backs so I don’t know why you’re trying to blame it on the player. It took me two swings to kill them, which was more than enough time to suffer a knock-back. I also typed out in another thread interesting combat ideas that the enemies in SAB can have to make combat more fun and engaging instead of ALL of them inflicting knock-backs on the players.

I didn’t spend enough time looking? Maybe I didn’t. I remember exploring everything in World 1 but the entire time playing World 2 the only thought I had in my head was “can I jump here? should i jump here? is it worth the risk?” And because the ENTIRE zone is nothing but jumping those thoughts can get tedious. There’s very little to explore.

I don’t think most people would have an issue with World 2 if it it were a different dungeon or mini-game or whatever. But coming from World 1, it’s not the same. This is the type of content where “learning curve” as you put it isn’t all that’s important. It doesn’t seem like a throw-back to old games anymore, it seems like a long drawn-out and boring jumping puzzle that takes over an hour to complete.

You don’t just stand there. Circle-strafe them and they’ll never land a hit. In fact, you can do that with every enemy so far with the exception of the polar bear but you can time your dodge to avoid his aoe.

I respect your opinion and I was giving my opinion that counters what was being said. I happen to disagree with it. I’m sorry if you took it as me attacking you but that was not the intention.

coffeeisyum.5297:

Wall-o-text

Let’s step back and read your original post one more time.

I love challenging content. I have never complained about anything Anet has added to them game content-wise when others have complained about difficulty. Even the Halloween jumping puzzle, I spent all day working on it and LOVED it. I don’t care about achievements, so I am never concerned about ability to do something, just about how much fun it is to actually do.

But this? It’s ridiculous. I don’t understand why World 1 was so much fun and World 2 is so frustrating. Ninjas are knocking me off anywhere and everywhere before I even have a chance. I thought the darts were fun, because I’d forget to slow down and run right into them. THAT was fun and challenging. But the ninja knock-backs were just frustrating especially when there were no shops to upgrade our sticks so we actually stood a chance before getting knocked around.

Then Zone 3? Such poor execution. I thought the slippery ice was fun, but half the time I was randomly jumping around huge structures that barely even protruded from the rocks. Do this for about 10 minutes, then kill a few things, then randomly jump on small protruding cliffs again for another 10 minutes. This is not fun and challenging jumping. It’s just tedious jumping. And half the time I thought there were secret areas and I would risk jumping for a few minutes thinking it was a secret area only to end up at a dead-end and have to turn around in an attempt to get back. Why would you even do this to people? The environment and layout was just boring. Rocks and Ice. Rocks and more ice. The only thing I enjoyed was the Q-bert area.

Then the end boss! The fight was fun but why…WHY would you make the boss reset if everyone in the party happens to die? My BF and I spent more time trying to prevent us from both being dead at the same time than we did actually fighting the boss. We kept looking over at each others screen more than our own. It didn’t help that the lightning sparks were constantly knocking us off. Can you please come up with interesting combat instead of resorting to all enemies having knock-back? It seems lazy.

I think the worst part is that we only have 2 lives now. I feel like I spent more time getting sent to the lava area, then having to click the hub icon, then having to re-enter the world than I did actually playing. Every death was not about learning what I needed to do next, or challenging, or “LOL oops, didn’t see that gap!” but one step closer to having to be sent out of the zone then back in. Decreasing lives seemed like either an easy way to get people to buy the infinite coin or just a cheap way to make the content “appear” more challenging.

I don’t understand how dramatically different World 1 and World 2 are and I’m not sure if I’m going to even waste my time attempting World 3 this weekend.

You start by saying you love challenging content. You then spend the next 4 paragraphs complaining about the difficulty of world 2. You say “frustrating” but what I believe you really mean is, “too hard.”

People don’t generally post giant walls of rage and disappointment unless the content is too difficult for them.

Some parts of world 2 are indeed frustrating, but overcoming frustration was part of the challenge of the 8-bit era.

Edit: As for the storm wizard’s dragon phase…none of the attacks the storm dragon uses have a knockback associated with them. The sparks don’t knock you back, they just take away one heart. The breath doesn’t knock you back either. If you’re standing on a platform when it gets eaten, you won’t get knocked back, but you will die.

coffeeisyum.5297:

And half the time I thought there were secret areas and I would risk jumping for a few minutes thinking it was a secret area only to end up at a dead-end and have to turn around in an attempt to get back. Why would you even do this to people?

Personally, I enjoy 2-3 the most of the new zones, simply because a lot of it is classic JP mechanics. The long vertical climb inside the cave is particularly nice, because it’s a fairly substantial JP without the risk of death (something that you don’t see much of in World 2, sadly). I’ll agree that the scenery isn’t much to look at most of the time, but the stone heads did give the first few areas a bit of character.

As for the possible ‘secrets’ you’re looking for, difficult jumping paths tend to be divided into 3 types in World 2:

• A path required to find a Bauble (usually at least Yellow, but there are Reds and Purples hidden too).
• A path required to find a hidden Dig Site (most of the secret ones have at least 20 Baubles inside, if not more).
• A path that is only there for the challenge, and generally only required in Tribulation Mode.

That said, there’s still one or two areas that we have no idea why they exist, but the majority do have a point.

coffeeisyum.5297:

Then the end boss! The fight was fun but why…WHY would you make the boss reset if everyone in the party happens to die? My BF and I spent more time trying to prevent us from both being dead at the same time than we did actually fighting the boss. We kept looking over at each others screen more than our own. It didn’t help that the lightning sparks were constantly knocking us off. Can you please come up with interesting combat instead of resorting to all enemies having knock-back? It seems lazy.

Sounds like a bug? I’ve died plenty of times against the Storm Wizard solo before I learned the encounter, and he never reset on me. And I don’t recall much knockback, except from his dash attack (which is deadly until you learn how to deal with it). It’s a more difficult fight than the Toad King, true, but the encounter can be learned until you’re doing the entire fight without taking any damage at all (though I do tend to get knicked once or twice by Lightning Sparks in the 2nd phase… no knockback there though).

coffeeisyum.5297:

I think the worst part is that we only have 2 lives now. I feel like I spent more time getting sent to the lava area, then having to click the hub icon, then having to re-enter the world than I did actually playing.

This, I think, is where the main part of your frustration lies, and is likely highly influencing how much you’re enjoying the content. It is, however, something that’s very easy to rectify.

Once a day, you can complete a zone on Normal to find 2 Bauble Bubbles in the chest at the end. So you could do W1Z1 on Normal for 2 Bubbles, or the entirety of W1 for 6 Bubbles (plus another Bauble Bubble from the Bonus Round for 7 total). Once you’ve got a couple of Bauble Bubbles, leave the box and talk to Moto — he’s selling 5 Continue Coins for 1 Bauble Bubble each. Buy 10 Coins (costing 2 Bubbles total). Now, the next time you lose all your lives, you can use those 10 Coins to give yourself 50 lives to continue with.

Buying extra Continue Coins from Moto is definitely worthwhile (unless you have the Infinite Continue Coin, but the point here is that you don’t need it), and you should have more than enough Baubles to fund this. Yes, it does mean you’ll have less Bauble Bubbles to spend on skins, but you should be gaining far more Baubles than you spend, and you’ll die less anyways as you get used to the new zones.

I’ve experienced the Storm Wizard reset bug myself. It happens if you lose your last life and get sent to Moto. Even if you use a Continue Coin, the Storm Wizard (at least when he’s a Dragon) will reset where the Dragon spawns at full HP.

I only experienced the bug when I died on my very last life (the 0 life). All other deaths, the Storm Wizard fight never got reset.

Once you learn the Storm Wizard patterns and how to counter them though, it will be a lot easier to survive the fight. The Storm Wizard always has the same patterns in both forms.

As for difficulty of Assassins, as well as the difficulty of the Storm Wizard fight, the upgraded Chain Sticks makes everything a ton easier as well. The extra wide range of the Chain sticks allows you to strafe around enemies to avoid attacks while still being able to hit them without missing. This makes a huge difference in making many World 2 fights much easier.

TFMurphy.5136:

coffeeisyum.5297:

And half the time I thought there were secret areas and I would risk jumping for a few minutes thinking it was a secret area only to end up at a dead-end and have to turn around in an attempt to get back. Why would you even do this to people?

Personally, I enjoy 2-3 the most of the new zones, simply because a lot of it is classic JP mechanics. The long vertical climb inside the cave is particularly nice, because it’s a fairly substantial JP without the risk of death (something that you don’t see much of in World 2, sadly). I’ll agree that the scenery isn’t much to look at most of the time, but the stone heads did give the first few areas a bit of character.

Good, I’m not the only one that really likes zone 3 the best of the three.

coffeeisyum.5297:

Then the end boss! The fight was fun but why…WHY would you make the boss reset if everyone in the party happens to die? My BF and I spent more time trying to prevent us from both being dead at the same time than we did actually fighting the boss. We kept looking over at each others screen more than our own. It didn’t help that the lightning sparks were constantly knocking us off. Can you please come up with interesting combat instead of resorting to all enemies having knock-back? It seems lazy.

Haven’t encountered this and I have done this boss with a friend. And there were times that we both fell off together. (hey, another black dot dropping down….)

Complaining about the assassins? Really?

Bust out your slingshot and rapid fire them, three shots and the melee ones are dead, you can shoot them while they run toward you or toss a bomb at them then finish them with one melee strike. The ranged assassins are a joke as you just need to lazily step to the side to avoid their attacks.

coffeeisyum.5297:

I love challenging content. I have never complained about anything Anet has added to them game content-wise when others have complained about difficulty. Even the Halloween jumping puzzle, I spent all day working on it and LOVED it. I don’t care about achievements, so I am never concerned about ability to do something, just about how much fun it is to actually do.

But this? It’s ridiculous. I don’t understand why World 1 was so much fun and World 2 is so frustrating.

Cheap deaths, long levels.

world two is not fun anymore, hard to get people interested when you have to spend a good portion of your free time to finish one zone. The regular mode feels like it should be tribulation. So many people laughed and had a good time playing world 1 only to try this and become immensely frustrated. The baubles are a lot more scarce now too, so upgrading even in the easy mode of world 2 takes forever.

Dont continue coins give 5 lives?

theres a reason world 1 was a success and world 2 isnt

dying every minute or two in world 2 is just frustrating beyond imagination… i quit trying and never came back.

I am someone that completed every jumping puzzle in pve and could manage to beat the halloween clocktower puzzle with 80% success rate. But SAB world 2 is just a big mess and failure… I applaud for them for trying, but seriously… they need to rework the difficulty.

aaron.7850:

theres a reason world 1 was a success and world 2 isnt

dying every minute or two in world 2 is just frustrating beyond imagination… i quit trying and never came back.

I am someone that completed every jumping puzzle in pve and could manage to beat the halloween clocktower puzzle with 80% success rate. But SAB world 2 is just a big mess and failure… I applaud for them for trying, but seriously… they need to rework the difficulty.

I found world 2 to be relatively easy once I figured out the correct path.

Did I use a lot of continue coins the first time through? About 20. But now I’ve got continue coins falling out of my pockets.

I loved the challenge of world 2. The assassins are a tough enemy, but manageable. I actually find the blue monkeys in world 1 to be worse.

I really liked the direction of world 2, especially since I don’t play solo, but also with friends. Talking with all my friends on Skype and laughing when we die horrific deaths (like in the Pain Cliffs) is an incredible source of entertainment!

It’s a shame that some people don’t find the challenge fun. However, I grew up with the ridiculously hard NES games and I absolutely love this mode, especially Tribulation (4 levels beaten so far). Can’t wait to see what’s next, ArenaNet.