Guild Wars 2

It’s all good, since it’s a video game, it doesn’t matter at all how someone got the title!

hth

There’s like 29 achievements out for Southsun. You do not need to do the jp to get the extra sample.

Why would this title be any different from any other title where people have the option to use teamwork to make it easier?

I have to agree with others who point out there are other ways to get the title. The mesmer portal is something that does skirt the borderline but since most people will be able to get the needed points once the May 28th patch hits, I don’t think it’s that terrible.

Why would this title be any different from any other title where people have the option to use teamwork to make it easier?

This is not so much teamwork as mesmers doing something nice for other people, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

I do not have a strong opinion on the title. Personally, I think there are lots of other cooler titles available, and choose to use Avenger of the Dispossessed for myself.

That aside, I do not think that using mesmer portal is cheating. IMO it is as much of a ‘cheat’ as it is to get an end of dungeon reward if you died on the boss and your team finished it. It is less of a cheat than using dragon timers.

The skill is there and working as intended. If you want to consider that a cheat, consider any of the many other skills a cheat. i.e. anything that makes you invulnerable, that should be a cheat too?

This whole thing against portals is extremely silly imho.

I’m one of those that completed the puzzle right away when the area first opened up in November. I’ll say it frustrated me but I kept at it until I got it done. The whole time I thought the end was right at the top of that first string of jets in the cave and when I finally got through that I was deflated to see more to it. Luckily I finished the rest on that first shot. I’ve never attempted it again. It’s been so long since I did it that I’m sure it would take me several tries to do it again.

When I saw that one of the points was up there for this event I wasn’t happy. I didn’t find out until later that I didn’t need to get it. Which was also after I was putting it off and just happened to see a Mes portalling and took the opportunity. IMO they did it right by not making it required. Even though I know I could do it eventually, they shouldn’t put required things like this in a spot that may be impossible for many to reach due to various circumstances.

Jemmi.6058:

I do not have a strong opinion on the title. Personally, I think there are lots of other cooler titles available, and choose to use Avenger of the Disposed for myself.

It’s ‘Dispossessed’.

This thread is kind of silly considering there are currently more than 25 possible Southsun achievements to complete, and the next content update will unlock several more; when Southsun Stalwart is tied to ALL possible achievements, you have no way of knowing whether anyone sporting it did them all, just enough to get the title, used a portal to get that sample, etc.

I main a mesmer myself and I LOVE jumping puzzles, so naturally I jumped and got that one again (did it the first time back on launch day for Southsun and then frequently afterward; most times I was in the zone I’d hit both puzzles), and I happily offered to portal folks up to the end once I got there, because I could. Saving someone else the time and frustration needed to get to various high or out of the way places is just our way of being nice to people.

The real reason not to “respect” the Southsun Stalwart title is that it’s way too easy to get, not that people might have “cheated” to get it.

I had planned on skipping this particular one achievement point as I did not want to waste my time on the JP just to do it. I have done JP’s before including the Mad King’s clock tower so I know that I am capable but my time is too precious for one measly achievement point that was not needed for completion.

As luck would have it I was walking by when some free ports were happening and I took the free ride.

Do I feel like I didn’t earn the title? No because I in fact DID earn the title regardless of this one achievement point.

Do I feel like I mastered that JP? Of course not because I got ported rather than did the JP.

Can I sleep at night knowing this? Like a baby.

LameFox.6349:

Jemmi.6058:

I do not have a strong opinion on the title. Personally, I think there are lots of other cooler titles available, and choose to use Avenger of the Disposed for myself.

It’s ‘Dispossessed’.

Thanks for catching that. Edited.

Cherrylin.5869:

Alright, maybe I’ll look like one of the few ‘whining’ about this. You can also choose to throw some insult at me. Though, I’m really just trying to have a debate about a possible issue; whether or not the Southsun Stalwart title has much less honor than it could’ve had.

Why? Because of how a lot of people used a mesmer portal to get to the islet.

I did the jumping puzzle; I know a lot of other people did it too. We can of course take pride in that and have that ‘yes, I did it!’ feeling.. but we can’t really use the Southsun Stalwart title to show it. Now, people, don’t say something ridiculous about boasting is bad or whatever. Titles are there to show your accomplishments; but anyone who did everything fairly can’t show any other accomplishment than those who used a portal.
(Edit: I’m also aware that the title is for completing 25 achievements; but I personally feel that it only requires 24 if you use the portals).

What do you guys ‘n girls think of this? Do you think using mesmer portals is cheating, or do you think it’s fair? What do you think Anet could’ve done differently?

I personally believe that the jumping puzzle (if anything) should’ve had a separate achievement and separate title, neither of which counted toward the ‘overall’ Southsun achievement/rewards. Unless there was an ‘ultimate’ achievement for completing all plus the puzzle.. (Edit: To clear up, the issue is not about ‘the jumping puzzle not having an achievement/etc. of its own, but that it can be ’done’ too easy and counts toward a larger achievement).

At very least, putting an object, required for an achievement, (which again is required for a reward and a title), at the end of a hard jumping puzzle, is only going to make people want to find an easier solution.

Edit: Having to include (for some reason that frankly isn’t very obvious to me, but maybe I didn’t make it clear enough) that this is meant as a discussion/debate about whether or not this is okay, and what you think about the issue. Is it an issue? Did you jump or use a portal, and what does it mean to you? (So on. That kind of questions..)

Used a portal because jumping puzzles have no place in this game. I did the rest of the work.

It’s no worse than getting ran across a bunch of maps in guild wars 1. Just looks worse because it’s “teleporting”, and teleporting looks like cheating at the best of times.

I did not design the achievement system nor the incentive system. Unless ANet tells me not to do it, it is fair.

In fact, there are numerous “cheats” on puzzles. I can go to YouTube and watch a movie for any puzzle I cannot figure out. I can follow someone who already knows how to do it. I can bring my engineer, eat dinner near the computer and make the next jump every 20 seconds with my rifle. Arguably any or all of these tactics dishonor the spirit of the game. As I said, I never designed the incentive system. I just follow the incentives I am given.

Grim.6415:

I had planned on skipping this particular one achievement point as I did not want to waste my time on the JP just to do it. I have done JP’s before including the Mad King’s clock tower so I know that I am capable but my time is too precious for one measly achievement point that was not needed for completion.

As luck would have it I was walking by when some free ports were happening and I took the free ride.

Do I feel like I didn’t earn the title? No because I in fact DID earn the title regardless of this one achievement point.

Do I feel like I mastered that JP? Of course not because I got ported rather than did the JP.

Can I sleep at night knowing this? Like a baby.

What Grim said.

I tried many times to do this jumping puzzle and it a type that is beyond my abilities. Some jumping puzzles I can do, some I have struggled through to get and there are some I just cannot complete. I also have done everything else up to date in the achievements so would have gotten Southsun Stalwart regardless. If there had not been anyone kindly offering portals, I would have bypassed this one but since so many kind folk were helping out, I see nothing wrong in making their day by hopping into their portal. Many thanks to all the helpful folk during this event who have made it a more enjoyable experience and have shown what true community is.

If you want a real title, then use the mad king clock tower JP achievement. That is the only JP in the game that has offered any amount of challenge so far.

I am sorry but there are are people who PAY to get dungeon paths done. So they can get dungeon master. Someone else does the work and they jump in the last minute and get the path completion credit. There are also people who get friends to play on their character so they can get achievements they would not otherwise be able to get.

Pretty much all the titles are worthless or priceless but it depends on the person wearing it. I mean, I am rather proud of my Dungeon Master title because I did every single dungeon path myself. Including the infamous Arah Path 4 and the often neglected CoF path 3. But for anyone else knows, I could have paid gold to the path completions or was “carried” by friends/guildies etc. Ultimately, only I know how I got the title, only I know the story behind the title and that’s okay! I didn’t get the title impress other people, the title was the bi-product of my desire to experience everything the game has to offer.

So yes, use the portal or don’t use the portal and remember always that you only see the title, not the story behind it.

Using the portal to the get to the end of the JP certainly isn’t cheating. Cheating implies that it’s unfair or illegal, and here neither definition applies as everyone can ask a Mesmer to help him.

I already did the Skipping Stones JP a while ago. For this part of the Living Story I did get to the end of the JP again with the use of a portal because there happened to be a Mesmer who offered assistance and asked nothing in return (so I gave him 5 silver as a thank you gesture).

If anything I think a Mesmer offering to help out people shows of the best part of the GW2 community: Generally people who play it have a nice attitude towards other players and helping out occurs naturally due to the setup of the game.

This thread is more about the portal thing being right or wrong (cheating).

I’m a mesmer. I like JPs and find them easy. Skipping stones takes me 5 mins to do (there was a comment up there saying it’s luck based – WTF?!) . With that said:

I DO port people up, at it feels good that I am actually helping people (for free I might add – I heard some people are taking toll ahem) . I like doing this. BUT. What I don’t like is, when people are not even attempting to do the JP. They just want the chest/JP/sample handed to them. And I find that quite unfair, but I do give portals for everyone.

TL,DR.: At least attempt the JP a few times before asking for the portal.

I’ve done the jumping puzzle before the release of the Secrets of Southsun. It was interesting and I didn’t have much trouble doing it, but I seemed to have a lot of trouble when I did it when the new content was released. Thankfully a kind mesmer offered a port up to the last collection and I was then able to move onto the other things to do to get the 25 achievements.

One other thing is that some people just plain cannot do jump puzzles…period. Some admit it, others do not. Also, I brought my own mesmer over to help port since the guy I play with a lot in-game has deteriorating eyesight and cannot always finish a jump puzzle, even with someone there to guide him.

If they’re going to put the mechanic into the game, then they’ve already decided it’s a legitimate strategy. Personally, I have no problems with using such a short cut, beats spending multiple, frustrating hours trying to do something that’s more likely to become hated by a player than enjoyed by them, especially for what is essentially crap loot that will never be worth the time and effort it takes to get them by other means.

As for achievements and titles, I cannot honestly believe anyone respects the things, it’s just something on a to do list. Get it done and never feel any compulsion to do it again.

Trina.9625:

If they’re going to put the mechanic into the game, then they’ve already decided it’s a legitimate strategy. Personally, I have no problems with using such a short cut, beats spending multiple, frustrating hours trying to do something that’s more likely to become hated by a player than enjoyed by them, especially for what is essentially crap loot that will never be worth the time and effort it takes to get them by other means.

As for achievements and titles, I cannot honestly believe anyone respects the things, it’s just something on a to do list. Get it done and never feel any compulsion to do it again.

Don’t forget, the loot being random or “crap” as you mentioned is actually a good thing. Of course this is only my oppinion, but I think the loot is what it is for 2 reasons:

1 – people good at JPs (like myself) do them (well, most of them) in under 5 mins
2 – players would abuse/exploit (becouse most people exploit everything they can – think Fractals) it like mad – even with this loot, I know of people who have 1 main character, and other 4 parking at a top of JPs, that makes 4 chests for nothing/day.

Now imagine these chests having a fixed rare.

Edit: sorry if I went too much off topic here.

You make a decent point. Might as well just toss the loot altogether. Then only the people that enjoy it will go after it, those that would be doing it for a reward will move on to alternate activities that do reward on par with effort put in, and it would likely eliminate the “cheating” altogether. Eliminate the achievement portion and it’s just the joy of exploration and setting a personal challenge for oneself; heck, even I’d begin to feel jumping puzzles are no longer a distasteful chore at that point.