Guild Wars 2

Normally, I don’t post here. However, I’ve been doing some JPs lately for achievement points (no interest in PvP/WvW, so points need to come from somewhere). I suspect ANet collects metrics on this sort of thing, and might mistakenly assume I’m doing that because they’re enjoyable. I want to correct that, because I do think this is generally a pretty good game.

JPs aren’t pleasant at all. They’re arguably the worst thing in PvE. It’s less a puzzle than it is a constant fight against a camera which is clearly not designed for the needlessly cramped spaces in which it’s trying to operate (much less with larger characters), obfuscating any helpful references and sapping the fun out of the experience. What should in theory be a fun diversion ends up being incredibly frustrating and painful. I’m genuinely baffled that people claim to like them.

Rant over.

First time i did some jump puzzles were on my hightower norn. And yea your kitten ed right about fighting the camera getting stuck where ever.

Now when i go with my asura its a complete different story. Not that i do them daily but theyre sooooo much easier then a norn/charr.

I do not think you are the only one, they always feel a bit forced to me. Even if you eliminate actual jumping puzzles you still have mini versions in the form of vistas and how to get to some other content.

You are right that the camera and such make it hard. It is 10 times worse if you have even the smallest tremor in your hands though.

I always do jps on my Sylvari and I don’t think they’re too cramped. Except for the one below LA.

I think the jumping puzzles are a nice additional part of the game when they are optional and award a chest or achievement or special skins or whatnot. I hate them when they are a mandatory part of the game, and you need to complete them to reach a vista or skill point or map area discovery. They are significantly easier on my asura, sometimes miserable on my norn, and the only reason I cannot run a charr at all (which I find disappointing, because I would have one otherwise).

I’m much more tolerant of them when the penalty for a mistake is simply to start over at some previous point in the puzzle than when any error is insta-death (usually from falling damage). I also appreciate when there are points in the puzzle where I am not being forced to move constantly via traps, attacks, or whatever so I can take a break and plan the next set of jumps.

I personally LOVE jumping puzzles. I do them with my friends all the time, and they’re one of my favorite aspects of PvE. That being said, I agree with Amphian. They should all be completely optional, and none should be tied to map completion. Some people’s computer hardware or internet connection make jumping puzzles incredibly difficult to complete without spending hours jumping, lagging, and ultimately falling. They should be recreational, and I think Anet has done a pretty good job with this, excluding the few vistas that require a jumping puzzle to be completed.

All things considered, I really hope they add many more in HoT! Just keep them as optional content tied to achievement points. (Gotta get some satisfaction out of them. The chests at the end suck.)

I love jumping puzzles – some of the best original stuff they came up with for the game. Really unique and a great fun addition to the game – I hope they add more.

I like JPs a lot. They’re really fun. I’ve honestly never had any issues with the camera, even with my max height Human male (although I’ll generally use my minimum height Asuran female/Human female characters). The only one that really seems to have issues is the underground one in LA

I have a lot of fun with them, even though I can’t do the timed ones worth a darn.

OP, you mention camera issues. Those used to be really bad but with the camera changes they’ve been vastly ameliorated. Have you tried changing your settings while doing an enclosed JP?

I never found them to be challenging at all, just find the purple ring and interact with it.

Disclaimer: I “may” have payed for the occasional portal.

niceusername.8745:

I personally LOVE jumping puzzles. I do them with my friends all the time, and they’re one of my favorite aspects of PvE. That being said, I agree with Amphian. They should all be completely optional, and none should be tied to map completion. Some people’s computer hardware or internet connection make jumping puzzles incredibly difficult to complete without spending hours jumping, lagging, and ultimately falling. They should be recreational, and I think Anet has done a pretty good job with this, excluding the few vistas that require a jumping puzzle to be completed.

All things considered, I really hope they add many more in HoT! Just keep them as optional content tied to achievement points. (Gotta get some satisfaction out of them. The chests at the end suck.)

No Jumping Puzzle is tied with Map Compleation… I think.
You have to get to the Jumping Puzzle but you don’t have to succeed doing it to get the part of the map.

Oh… Yea… There is two Vistas in the game tied to a JP :-/ But they are quite easy and not in any way near problematic walls where the camera will go bonkers.

I personally enjoy jumping puzzles, occasional difficulties included. In a game where everything dies just because you looked at it, it’s nice to have a bit of difficulty somewhere.

I like JP’s but the fun part about them for me stops when i have to run 5 mins from wp. “Not so secret” puzzles are perfect example. If u dont have a friend here who ll rezz u every time u fail it is annoying as f…

Also not JP but Golden badges in skritt area are extremly annoying because u have to jump all the way for 2 of em on a freaking chain of beams and not saying again about running from wp every time u fail.

I love JP, beated Mad King’s puzzles, Wintersday, done all puzzles in GW achis, now fighting with golden badges but just please, don’t make me run all the way from WP over and over.

<3 jumping puzzles though some of the later/newer ones can be very frustrating.

I do get people who don’t like them though. Let’s hope anet keeps this kind of content voluntary. That way people who dislike jps can stay away from them.

That said, so hoping for many awesome jps in HoT!

EdgarMTanaka.7291:

No Jumping Puzzle is tied with Map Compleation… I think.
You have to get to the Jumping Puzzle but you don’t have to succeed doing it to get the part of the map.

Oh… Yea… There is two Vistas in the game tied to a JP :-/ But they are quite easy and not in any way near problematic walls where the camera will go bonkers.

I wouldn’t consider Tribulation Rift easy. (Admittedly, it’s not the hardest puzzle in the game, just not easy for someone closer to 50 than 20.) The camera there does get tangled up on my norn in a few places with the scaffolding, but I don’t remember if it does on my sylvari or asura. (I did it on the norn first, so that’s the one I remember most clearly.)

Amphian.2084:

EdgarMTanaka.7291:

No Jumping Puzzle is tied with Map Compleation… I think.
You have to get to the Jumping Puzzle but you don’t have to succeed doing it to get the part of the map.

Oh… Yea… There is two Vistas in the game tied to a JP :-/ But they are quite easy and not in any way near problematic walls where the camera will go bonkers.

I wouldn’t consider Tribulation Rift easy. (Admittedly, it’s not the hardest puzzle in the game, just not easy for someone closer to 50 than 20.) The camera there does get tangled up on my norn in a few places with the scaffolding, but I don’t remember if it does on my sylvari or asura. (I did it on the norn first, so that’s the one I remember most clearly.)

Yeah with jps you really notice that you are usually best off running with human sized frame (meaning human or sylvari). Charr, Norn and asura all have some model size issues you need to get accustomed to since the models are bigger/smaller than the hitbox.

I kinda view the later 3 races as the masochistic approach to doing jps. I’ll stick to my sylvari any day.

i laugh at posts like this whining about the camera. This is why we got the new options. USE IT!

mcwurth.2081:

i laugh at posts like this whining about the camera. This is why we got the new options. USE IT!

In all fairness to the OP, the camera changes didn’t help that much when it comes to tight squeezes. The JPs where that’s particularly bad still have those problems, but there’s only one or two that are that bad.

That being said, I love the JPs in this game and always want more.

Cyninja.2954:

Yeah with jps you really notice that you are usually best off running with human sized frame (meaning human or sylvari). Charr, Norn and asura all have some model size issues you need to get accustomed to since the models are bigger/smaller than the hitbox.

I kinda view the later 3 races as the masochistic approach to doing jps. I’ll stick to my sylvari any day.

This is precisely the reason I can’t run a charr – I can’t even do puzzles that I think of as relatively easy without multiple tries on them. I’m not convinced it’s just the size – it feels to me like you steer jumps from the gut on them as opposed to from the feet on other races. When I would get better on the charrs, it would mess up how I jumped on other races. (I ran one charr to 30 something and two more to 20 something to cover all the personal stories.)

I have the easiest time on my asura, for some reason. I tell myself it’s because they are so floppy they just bounce into place. I ran a bunch of the optional puzzles last week just to get the achievements done. There are probably some I will just never do, and that’s fine, because they aren’t required. The mandatory ones make me rethink ever making another tall character. (My norn is a max height female.) I’m fine with HoT having a bunch more as long as they are all optional.

RoseofGilead.8907:

mcwurth.2081:

i laugh at posts like this whining about the camera. This is why we got the new options. USE IT!

In all fairness to the OP, the camera changes didn’t help that much when it comes to tight squeezes. The JPs where that’s particularly bad still have those problems, but there’s only one or two that are that bad.

That being said, I love the JPs in this game and always want more.

before the camera changes i tried many puzzles myself (main is norn) and had huge troubles getting through them so i gave up, did maybe 5 or 6 total, and that where the super easy ones.

within a few weeks after the changes i did all jumping puzzles. it is so much easier now. take the time, find the right place for your camera and make the jump, do not give up if it fails but try and adjust again and make the jump. usually after 2 or 3 tries i make it. I love being able to put the camera above me under me beside me, even in front of me to make a jump i would otherwise not have been able to make. for super tight spots, first person camera is your friend.

utilizing the tools given by a-net might not seem logical to everyone but it is a great help.

I love them as a concept.
Not so much in execution.
The controls and camera just don’t lend themselves to them very well, and many of them rely on jumping on things that don’t make sense (if you’re a larger character, some of the ‘jumps’ have you floating inches away).

That said, even with their faults, I enjoy them more than I do combat-centric gameplay, and, IMO, the Forsaken Halls, Drydock Scratch, and especially the Obsidian Sanctum (sans PvP… That shouldn’t have been a thing) are what I would rather the game take inspiration from for future content.

So don’t do them, you don’t have to do them. People who enjoy them do them and people who don’t won’t. The camera isn’t bad, enable first person. It was infinitely worse before that and still completely enjoyable. This coming from somebody who mains a max height norn.

Jumping puzzles might well be my favorite thing in this game. Then again, I played a lot of Tomb Raider over the years.

Jumping puzzles are indeed not for everyone, but are also loved by a great part of the community. So please make more!

The game is an MMO. This means that other people play it. just except that there is content that isn’t for you.

I personally dislike fractals and I dislike SAB, but I’m happy for those who like those formats when they get extended (or returns in the case of SAB). Just as long as my wishes and desires for the game get some love too.

Jumping Puzzles are my favorite part of PvE. The last one they added in the Silverwastes was so cool: long, with beautiful landscapes, easy, a nice expedition to do with a friend.

The “Not So Secret” JP was also fun, in a head-banging kind of way. Unfortunately, I was not around when SAB was a thing. I hope it will return soon.

I used to be the same as the OP. Baffled as to how something so cumbersome existed after years of playing proper platformers. Then at some point, I clicked with them and accepted with them – possibly when the Zephyrites first came since I thoroughly enjoyed that. There are some I’ll never do though since they are beyond my skill level.

It’s been interesting to see other games like Lotro and TSW experiment with adding them and fail spectacularly. At least GW2 was built with JP’s in mind rather than shoe-horned in like in other MMO’s

Sorel.4870:

Jumping Puzzles are my favorite part of PvE. The last one they added in the Silverwastes was so cool: long, with beautiful landscapes, easy, a nice expedition to do with a friend.

The “Not So Secret” JP was also fun, in a head-banging kind of way. Unfortunately, I was not around when SAB was a thing. I hope it will return soon.

I absolutely hate the Sand Dune Caverns JP. It’s pretty hard to even tell if you are going in the right direction. I think I got close to the end, but I had no idea how to progress and after about 45 mins I gave up. I don’t like going through an area and having no idea if going up or down is the right way. Literally most of the time I had no clue if I was going the right way or not. If it wasn’t for the haste stations and the 3 chests I got, I would be certain I had gotten lost. But once I got to some wooden landings over a sand dune, I couldn’t figure out how to climb higher.

But overall, I play MMORPGs to explore, have fun and kill things. Yes, JPs can help with exploring, but I don’t find them fun and often if there are monsters there, they are only put there to harass you.

I love them because it is a nice break between world bosses/farming. Also, I was awful at them at launch but got better

I love platforming game and jumping in this game feel real nice.. some camera issue aside… I love most of the JPs in this game.

Only few places that kitten me off though

The worst is troll end in LA .. I want to vomit after jumping across that fricking plank…

And not so secret just because I struck in that hellhole for 6 hours after purchase this game because I play 7 days trial and like the few JPs I did. Nice Welcome…
(My hate for this place is pretty much gone away now after I did spinal blade backpack and do that JP everyday ._. )

Don’t complain because you are bad at them. Go re-run dungeons ten times a day, at least you get adequately rewarded for them….

Personally, I really enjoy jumping puzzles and would like to see several more in HoT, hopefully more difficult than the ones we have in game now. I think the vast majority of the jps are very easy, but that is probably because I have just had a lot of practise with them, not because I am particularly skilled. I did every single jumping puzzle in game as a max size charr and because that is what I am used to, I probably couldn’t do them as a human. There is not much of an advantage to using certain races. However I do agree that they should not be mandatory to progress in the game (I do not consider dry top or any similarly designed map a jumping puzzle by any means though) but are a nice activity when you are looking for something different to do.

I love jumping puzzles, so much so that I completed them all and still do them if they’re in my path to an objective. I understand that they’re not for everyone, though, especially those (like me) who have hardware issues at the worst of times. Hopefully they’ll alleviate this in the future by changing some of the vistas around to require less jumping for those who don’t enjoy that feature.

theslynx.1596:

Normally, I don’t post here. However, I’ve been doing some JPs lately for achievement points (no interest in PvP/WvW, so points need to come from somewhere). I suspect ANet collects metrics on this sort of thing, and might mistakenly assume I’m doing that because they’re enjoyable. I want to correct that, because I do think this is generally a pretty good game.

JPs aren’t pleasant at all. They’re arguably the worst thing in PvE. It’s less a puzzle than it is a constant fight against a camera which is clearly not designed for the needlessly cramped spaces in which it’s trying to operate (much less with larger characters), obfuscating any helpful references and sapping the fun out of the experience. What should in theory be a fun diversion ends up being incredibly frustrating and painful. I’m genuinely baffled that people claim to like them.

Rant over.

sounds like you just suck at the game, i did all the jumping puzzles and there was only ONE kittene not including the wvw jumping ones, camera was fine, i just went first person mode if i needed to, it was easy as hell, so im assuming you just suck

i like jump puzzles more than the rewards.. but if i have to kill a big bad boss, thats where im not very good at :P

Make an asuran engineer. Use rifle skill #5 when hard jumps are giving you trouble

Jumping puzzles: Yay!

More please

JP are not my favorite content but I am very glad that they are included and consider Anet’s decision include platforming as a form of mini game within the game to be brilliant.

Yuck. We don’t have enough. More please.

I don’t like the jumping puzzles. Sure they’re not difficult, but they’re boring, have no redeeming value (you’re opinion may vary) – so I don’t do them.

If you’re grinding AP, then you’ll have to decide how much suffering you want to take with them.

I like Jumping Puzzles as well.I was always fan of Tomb Raider games and this aspect of GW2 PVE reminds me on that game.I like hard tasks,to solve mysteries,to work hard to get to some certain point on a map.I wish GW2 have more of them and hope HOT will bring them.
I hope thought that new jumping puzzles wont be just jumping,but also tasks where you have to use your brain as well – real puzzles.
Anet keep them coming.

Andraus.3874:

Yuck. We don’t have enough. More please.

This please.

To those saying none are tied to map exploration, there are at least 3 that are indeed JPs, but most of the time a mesmer is nearby who can portal for them.

Randulf.7614:

I used to be the same as the OP. Baffled as to how something so cumbersome existed after years of playing proper platformers. Then at some point, I clicked with them and accepted with them – possibly when the Zephyrites first came since I thoroughly enjoyed that. There are some I’ll never do though since they are beyond my skill level.

It’s been interesting to see other games like Lotro and TSW experiment with adding them and fail spectacularly. At least GW2 was built with JP’s in mind rather than shoe-horned in like in other MMO’s

If I remember it correctly GW2 was not designated with JPs in mind(that is the reason that we have camera problems), Josh made some maps with JPs and they where popular so they extended those to every map.

I may not like jumping puzzles all that much, but they are not that bad.
Besides, they are not mandatory content, so if you don’t like them, don’t do them.
I have Guildies that love JP’s and they were not happy when JP’s were removed from the monthly reward tracks.
Far worse things than JP’s in the game.

I love jumping puzzles, in fact it was this game that made me love them. Once you get used to working with the camera for tight spaces, it shouldn’t bother you at all. However, you do have to first get used to it, so I understand everyone that has problems working with the camera.

With that said, there are only a couple that are mandatory to reach some vistas for map completion, but other than that they are entirely optional. Sure there are some achievement points, but those aren’t solely earned through jumping puzzles. If you love them, they are there waiting for you to complete. If you despise them, you can shrug the vast majority of them off of your shoulder.

Personally I love the jumping puzzles but I do get frustrated because of the height camera issues. What I really don’t like is the new dailies and I wish they would bring them back on the dailies. Most of the time on my low level characters I can’t do the dailies because the area’s they want me to go to are to high.

I have two Charr and a Norn, along with all my other smaller characters. I’ve never had a problem with JPs. I love them and I wish there were more of them. That’s why I want SAB back, because it’s Jumping Puzzles as a play style.

Leonhardt.8164:

…

sounds like you just suck at the game, i … , so im assuming you just suck

Hello. I am not trying to judge but usually a comment used to beat someone down just to build yourself up comes from a lack of self esteem. You are better than whomever made you doubt yourself. You are unique and special. No one but you can take that away.
https://youtu.be/yrotsEzgEpg

The only thing I hate about JPs is that some of them, if you make one tiny mistake you die and then you have to start all over. sometimes this means wasting like 10 minutes.

now I always watch Youtube video before starting a JP, cuz i don’t want to waste my time having to restart JP over from the beginning just cuz of one small mistake

GW2’s collision detection isn’t well suited for jumping puzzles. And, like most other MMOs, you can only climb what they say you can climb. (Unless it’s bugged.) That means the “impossible” gradient on one procedural (I refuse to call most of them “puzzles”) might actually be climbable, but another “obvious” one constantly slides you off.

Add that onto the OP’s notes above about size and character balance, and it really just doesn’t work well at all. :\

Lightingale.6502:

The only thing I hate about JPs is that some of them, if you make one tiny mistake you die and then you have to start all over. sometimes this means wasting like 10 minutes.

now I always watch Youtube video before starting a JP, cuz i don’t want to waste my time having to restart JP over from the beginning just cuz of one small mistake

10 WHOLE minutes!!!! if you worry about 10 minutes of gaming time maybe you shouldnt even make the choice to do something that takes long(ish). a game is to relax, not to rush through.