Guild Wars 2

So, I had one of my characters join Durmand Priory, because I had every intention of exploring the personal story possibilities of all 3 Orders. I’ve just recently learned that there is a jumping puzzle in the personal storyline for the Priory.

What I’d like to know is if it’s possible to avoid this puzzle? Is there some other choice to make where you can do something else, or not be directed to the puzzle?

I’m really, really bad at jumping, much less jumping puzzles. The reason for this is not just because I’m clumsy and this is something I could practice at or persist at until I succeed. I have a fear of heights, or more accurately, a fear of falling. I simply cannot do jumping puzzles. Even vistas are incredibly difficult and challenging for me if I have to jump. Only the fact that they’re necessary for zone completion forces the completionist in me to do them. I hate that we’re forced to do them in order to finish the zones, and if they get any more difficult in later zones I won’t be able to do them.

Jumping puzzles, though, are completely impossible for me. Does this phobia mean that fully one third of the personal story in the game – the entire Durmand Priory story line – is something I am not able to experience because of this?

This makes me very sad and distressed. I have 11 characters, and none of them will be able to join the priory if this is true. In fact, one already has (as I stated at the beginning of this post), but it seems that I may have to delete them if there’s no possible way to avoid the jumping puzzle.

Hi Shaiel, I too am not good with heights, and it was a surprise to discover this impacted on the game. But yes, I have accidentally killed several chars falling off cliffs, etc., or had to waypoint out of situations, where I’ve managed to fall into places which are impossible to get out of lol.

Bad Blood caused me some grief. After being blown off the narrow wall, too many times to count, instead of “fighting to survive” the downed state, in a fit of sheer disillusionment and frustration, I decided to just let my Mesmer die. Unexpectedly, she was rez’ed on the other side. Couldn’t believe my luck, so pressed on.

At the next part of the jumping puzzle, I once again tried, oh so many times, (the falls this time were fairly shallow – not enough to cause damage.) Then suddenly, I found myself in front of the NPC who kept saying “jump through the ring” ….. even now I’ve no idea where that darned ring was… but evidently I must have accidentally found it.

Anyway, after then fighting through a few bad guys, I managed to complete it. It wasn’t very elegant of course, and I just know that others will probably say that it was “easy-peasy” for them. Possibly it’s a tribute to how good the graphics in this game are, that we folk who have problems with heights/balance, etc., find ourselves feeling unsteady on vistas, narrow ledges and so forth.

Good luck to you Shaiel, hope you manage to complete it too.

As I recall, the jumping puzzle in Bad Blood allows retries. If you fail and fall into a place where you can’t get up from, it simply sends you back to the beginning of that section, so your character never dies except from the usual suspects (traps/hostile enemies.)

Bad Blood is, sadly, not able to be skipped. All I can do is reassure you that it’s next to impossible to die via falling in that mission.

In order to avoid being blown away from the thin path, use the boon “Stability”. If your profession cannot provide that boon, ask a friend to come with you and buff(ex. Guardians have shout).

No, you cannot avoid doing that particular mission. And your mentor mocking you all the way(That ring thing, she was mocking you) does not help either.

Thanks for the heads up on that aspect of the story line.
On a side note—I found the jumping puzzles to be one of the most poorly designed and implemented parts of the game and can cause a great deal of frustration because of it.

I really love the jumping puzzles, but I understand they’re not going to work for all players. When I read about the game ahead of buying, it seemed ArenaNet understood they had to be made optional. That they’re in a personal story (without advance warning!) seems quite unfortunate.

Jumping puzzles I love, the camera for them I hate; that is their real downfall. Stability stops you getting knocked down by the wind, listen to Beyreva above and get a friend if need be.

oh my shy, you’re gonna have a hard time at the 45-55 norn area then. =( One of the vista has a jumping puzzle built in it that you have to do to get it (technically, the puzzle is the last, the vista is the second to the last step).

I really don’t mind jumping puzzles, but when jumping puzzles are necessary to reach a vista or a skillpoint (the mage’s tower at straits, i’m looking at you ferociously), it just grinds my gears.

and being in a country where youtube is blocked, you can guess how i manage to do them

@shy
when you reach those levels, just pm me if im online, and i can help. I only know 3 jumping puzzle solutions atm

I’m lucky. My friend and Guildmate is a total WHIZ at jumping puzzles, so she shows me how they are done. The challenges of completing them are still there, and some are so frustrating that I can only do 2-3 attempts before I need to walk away to try another day.

What would really help, is if there were ways to recover your progress in some of the more difficult ones, or at the very least make respawns of hostile mobs not quite so INSANE. The worst so far is the one at the Breached Wall in Diessa Plateau. That one and the Pirate ship one..I forget where that one is, but it’s another constant combat spot

Pirate ship.. northwest of Harathi Hinterlands? What I hated most about that JP is the part where you have to land 4 jumps on small beams of wood. And since I cannot put the camera directly above my char, I have to guess how far I have jumped. Having to do a precision jump without a precise feedback is bad design.

If you’re bad at jumping puzzles..pay a mesmer to portal you.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

Failing the jumping puzzle will down you and out you back at the start so you can bandage up or try again, or die and skip the puzzle. (If you choose “Retry from checkpoint” after being knocked off the ledge, it will put you past the puzzle.)

I won’t be retrying … I simply won’t be trying in the first place. Sweaty palms, nausea, dizziness, and heart palpitations – or even losing my lunch – for a quest line that includes a jumping puzzle? No.

And bringing a friend to give me stability? It won’t help either, since it’s a phobia and will do nothing for that.

I wish I could just roll back to before that character said that she’d join the Priory and make a different choice. Sadly, it seems I may have to delete her and waste all that time and effort. I won’t make the mistake of choosing Priory again.

I do, however, appreciate the efforts of those who took the time to respond.

Shaiel.7538:

I won’t be retrying … I simply won’t be trying in the first place. Sweaty palms, nausea, dizziness, and heart palpitations – or even losing my lunch – for a quest line that includes a jumping puzzle? No.

And bringing a friend to give me stability? It won’t help either, since it’s a phobia and will do nothing for that.

I wish I could just roll back to before that character said that she’d join the Priory and make a different choice. Sadly, it seems I may have to delete her and waste all that time and effort. I won’t make the mistake of choosing Priory again.

I do, however, appreciate the efforts of those who took the time to respond.

I wonder how will you complete “Tribulation rift” jumping puzzle/vista. Also if you have such phobias – maybe that game is not for you as it revolves around jumping?

I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to be able to continue the Durmand Priory questline. Who thought it was okay to add that blasted wind right at the beginning of the quest? “Oh, I can fly with my magic but you have jumping obstacles ahead and wind that’ll most likely get you killed. Have fun!”

That was a greatly irritating experience.

Dying it is…

And the grief continues with the jumping puzzles… Unfortunately, I’m not that good with this sort of thing.

I have tried the other two quest lines and they were okay. I don’t know what comes next after Bad blood, but I can guarantee I will never choose the Durmand Priory again. I didn’t buy Guild Wars 2 for jumping puzzles. >_<

Not to derail the thread, but I do think this attests to the reality of GW2. If the virtual environment of the game is strong enough to trigger real world phobias, that’s pretty impressive imho.

Back on topic, I completely empathize. I myself had an issue with a phobia, in GW1 EotN. Walking over the frozen lake with the dragon below the ice completely freaked me out. Sweats, shakes, minor panic attacks, etc… I fear large bodies under the water below me. Whale watching is definitely not on my bucket list, whales being the original source of the fear in reality. The first time I walked over that frozen lake, I did not realize there was a creature under it, but something felt wrong. The farther out I got, the more I was sweating. Right in the middle of the battle with the dervish boss there, I caught a glimpse of it and freaked out. I have heard (and seen in that one teaser trailer) of similar situations in GW2 with gint underwater creatures, and I even get a little nervous just thinking about coming across one.

So, even though heights and falling are not MY specific issue, I do think that Jumping Puzzles should not be part of the “required” content. The little couple jump vistas are no big deal, but a significant Jumping Puzzle should not be placed to impede those who for ANY reason are unable to do them.

A game that claims to be made to stress fun should not get in the way of that fun. GW2 goes to great lengths to stay out of my way, and has done so quite well… Except in a few small things (excluding bugs). Let’s see ANet make a small change to keep it that way.

I’ve been trying to complete this part of the Durmand Priory storyline with my Charr and I’ve come to the conclusion that the toon there now is the last one for that storyline. I’ve been trying for 2 days now and have miserably failled at crossing the bridge. Run, jump , die ( fun part, not ) and constant failure is not my cup of tea. I’m sure Anet can do something to fix this quest and make it achievable. I’m getting tired of dieing trying to complete this quest. My death count as doubled since the start of this storyline quest.

At this point, the problem isn’t the puzzle but rather the lack of feedback to let people know they can cross the bridge after one failed attempt. trucker: if you read up earlier in this thread it is pointed out that you can just die and then respawn on the other side of the bridge. This was changed from the original version where you had to keep trying until you made it.

this is THE WORST mission i have ever done in any mmo. it has utterly ruined my enjoyment of the priory storyline, so much so that im considering deleting my character just to NOT have to do it.

everyone responsible for this should be severely reprimanded. the design is a complete failure, and a disastrous incompetence. it HAS completely and permanently arrested my story progression, and has threatened my future in this game. i expect more of this stupidity in the future.

1. As mentioned before you can actually skip it.

2. Stop exaggerating, that jumping puzzle is very easy. Listen to Sieran when she talks, she tells you exactly what you need to do. Just like all jumping puzzles, if you patiently assess the situation and note the timing of wind/mobs etc you’ll find that it’s actually not that hard. And FYI, I play from the Oceanic region with crappy internet, my minimum ping seems to be about 250ms. I am also terrified of heights, I get cold sweats and my body often freezes when doing jumping puzzles (especially Dark Reverie and that Asura one with all the lava that’s on the same map). If I can do it, then unless you’re a 60+ year old with a nerve condition that gives you unsteady hands, you really should be able to do it.

Shaiel, I urge you to get help for your phobia. I have a great deal of sympathy for you. My mother suffers from a fear of heights. She can’t stand being in a 3rd floor apartment, and jump puzzles like the ones in this game would terrify her too.

But please, get help. It’s treatable. Not for the sake of a silly game, but for your own sake. I imagine you’re probably close to my age, so you haven’t really found out the full extent of the things your phobia will cripple you from doing. Watching my mother go through this, I can tell you – it’s terrible, it will have dramatic negative effects on you for the rest of your life, and if it’s left untreated it can gradually get worse.

She can’t visit most of her friends or relatives because of her fear of heights. Much of this comes from a strong fear of getting in an airplane. However, some of it comes from being unable to tolerate hotel rooms on high floors, apartments that are high off the ground, and car rides that go over mountains or too near a cliff. My mother hasn’t been able to visit me in over 10 years because of this.

When we were kids, I hated her phobia with a passion because she wouldn’t let my brother and I do normal things. She couldn’t stand to see either of us climb a tree, or ski, or even visit our grandparents in their high-rise condo, because of her fear of heights.

It’s quite likely you aren’t nearly as extreme about it as my mother – but still, get help. You don’t have to live your life hostage to fear. It will open up so many good parts of life to you.