Guild Wars 2

I’ve got two things to say about Dragon Clues; some praise, and some constructive criticism.

1. I love the idea. I’m a huge fan of exploration and discovery (one of the main reasons I love open world RPGs), so an achievement that involves searching for things is right up my alley. I would definitely like to see more of this in the future.

2. The criticism. I have a few suggestions to make:

a) I don’t like to use online guides; I find it much more fun and rewarding to find all the clues myself. However, it would help a lot if the game could keep track of the clues I had already found on the map (put some kind of marker down for each clue I find). That way, I can narrow down my search for the remaining clues. I’ve currently found 8/10 Dragon Claws in Frostgorge, but I’m having a hell of a time finding the last 2 (without help) since I can’t really remember exactly where the other 8 were.

(Note: this suggestion could really apply to a lot of achievements that already exist, too – like Jumping Puzzles and Diving Goggles. Us explorer-types would really love to have a visual record on the map of all the discoveries we’ve made)

b) Add more of a sensory reward for finding the clues. The animation for finding a clue is a bit… disappointing. It’s so subtle, I always press F twice just to make sure I actually got the clue. Maybe add an animation that shows the character taking out a notebook and writing in it? Or add some kind of distinct sound? Maybe some kind of sparkle/aura around the clue you just found?

c) For a little extra help finding the clues, maybe add some dialogue to existing characters in the area who acknowledge the existence of the clues and point you in the general direction of one nearby? This would have the extra benefit of making the world, in general, more immersive, and give you a reason to actually talk to NPCs more than once.

So yeah, love the idea, but it could use a little polish. Please consider these ideas for future living world content! Thanks!

Good suggestions. Personally I think there should be some kind of tracker, like there was with the Halloween event. As it is, I can either use a guide or lose 5 – 10 hours searching for the clues myself. :/

I feel like these Achievs. were rushed and just placed because they had nothing else to do , just dropping around random teeth and call it an dragon ’’clue’’, This could have ben way more interesting , like the event long time ago , where you received clues in your inventory and had to find the place after ( I think it was on southsun patch) THAT was a hunt for clues!

Current living story didn’t bring any piece of lore

Alchemist.7523:

I feel like these Achievs. were rushed and just placed because they had nothing else to do , just dropping around random teeth and call it an dragon ’’clue’’, This could have ben way more interesting , like the event long time ago , where you received clues in your inventory and had to find the place after ( I think it was on southsun patch) THAT was a hunt for clues!

I can’t speak to Southsun, since I wasn’t around during that event (I started playing at the tail end of Zephyr Sanctum), but I do agree with you that these achievements do feel rushed and shallow. But I didn’t really want to attack the designers for those flaws – I always give them the benefit of the doubt, because I certainly don’t know how to design and publish continuous video game content, so I have no idea how hard it is to put this stuff out. I just try to make suggestions about what I would like see in the future.

But yeah, along with what I already said in my OP, it would definitely be nice if there were more context, lore, and substance given to the clues (or whatever objects we might be collecting in future events).

I mean, the 3 dragons we are “investigating” already attack the given areas on a regular basis… what good are these “clues” really doing us? The part of me that enjoys lore does take issue with the lack of lore given to the clues… but the part of me that enjoys exploration (which is greater than the lore-enjoying part) just likes to find stuff, no matter what the reason.

So I still enjoyed trekking around Frostgorge, finding claws… but I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more if there had been a solid reason to do so, and/or relevant NPC dialogue from nearby NPCs. (Also, I was kind of mixing my clue-finding together with Frostgorge map completion, which made it feel like much less of a “waste” of time… but for someone who already had the map completed, I can definitely see how clue-searching might feel very tedious – that’s why good lore would really make a difference).