Guild Wars 2

Okay. Enough of the back-and-forth between “the JP is too hard” and “the JP is easy” crowd. I want a thread for constructive advice on how to beat the JP. I am struggling with it, but I am trying and practicing. I am looking for advice to see if it is possible for me to do this.

I am trying all 3 paths, but I seem to do best with gingerbread, worst with snowman, and in between with quaggan. I’ve made it to the first peppermint patty once, but at that point I froze and died.

Is there anything I can do to give myself more time? Buff vitality? Food? Anything? It seems to use PvP stats, so I’m doubtful, but I thought I’d ask.

As for my setup, I’m not using a mouse (one would kill my wrists very quickly). I am turning using the keyboard, so it is slow. I tried turning up the camera rotation speed from min to max, but it didn’t seem to make any difference whatsoever. I’ve gotten better and am starting my turn as soon as I jump, which cuts down on the camera rotation delay. However, I’m still running out of time by the time I reach the first peppermint patty disk (and that was my best run).

I think I will need something more than “just keep practicing”, “just memorize the patterns”, or “just use a mouse.” Any different advice?

The jump puzzle is all about speed. If Camera moving from the keyboard is slow. Then there is Nothing you can do but use your mouse. You cant buff health etc. You just have to be fast.

First part all i can say is to pick a path and just master it. I don’t mean to be rude but sadly there are no buffs, foods you can take to allow you more time.

When you get the gift part the only advance I give you is learn the timing of the gift spawn as once the first person jumps and makes contact with the gifts they all start to explode.

-Don’t wait for the blue ones (no one waits for them and you’ll get shafted)
-Keep moving forward and keep jumping because you won’t make it if you stop.

I would recommend using your mouse, that was the only way I got the rotation speed fast enough for the jumping puzzle.

OP, turn up the rotation speed to the max and if you wish try to move the camera as far way as you can as it will minimize the amount of movement for your turns.

If you ever reach the candy cane, just jump long way along the cane to increase the overall jumping surface area. Short direct jumps just make things more difficult.

Most importantly, have mental patience to jump at the right moment and keep moving at a certain pace while stopping for a few difficult camera turns or candy cane pop in.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/A-Dissertation-in-Jumping/first#post5870157

I move with W-key, and turn by holding mouse right click down all times and moving mouse. I think most of us do it in this way. You cant stop on the snowflakes for more than 1 second. If you turn action camera mode on you don’t even have to press down right click, just turn mouse.

As for settings…You should turn off camera shaking and turn postprocessing off. Put on bright colors or use black so you can clearly see your character. You can also turn off UI since you don’t need it anyway it might help you focus. Swift Moa Feather might give you speed but it’s expensive and probably not worth it.

I logged in and tried to jump using only WASD-keys.. It didn’t go well. Character is turning too slowly that you don’t have enough time on one snowflake to make rapid turn. It might be possible but surely makes things 10 times harder. It’s built by purpose that you should only touch each snowflake and keep jumping. Rotation speed doesn’t affect because you are turning character not the camera. I didn’t find option to turn camera using keyboard so I guess you have to give your mouse a change.

Use a mouse. No seriously, use it.

Altair.8402:

Use a mouse. No seriously, use it.

Sometimes I wonder if anet will fix rotation speed. At it currently stands, you need to use a mouse or else it will not be going anywhere. Or atleast implement action camera.

loseridoit.2756:

Or atleast implement action camera.

Joking right ?

Have you tried enabling action camera from the options.

Either way the problem really is, that the user if possible needs to use a mouse.
It will be a major QoL change for them. Unless they only have one hand, in which case im extremely sorry but the puzzle will forever be a hurdle to overcome.

I’m sorry, but as a one time keyboard player (and people could not tell I used a keyboard at all.) I’ll tell you up front. You have to use a mouse to have the speed and control necessary for this JP.

I always take the left path, it seems to be the path that I do the quickest and only 1 “jump on candysticks” part, which are riskier then normal jumps. (One had two, think the middle one)

And as for the mouse issue…use a mouse…put it on action camera if it’s that much of an issue. Should help a bit with your arm.

Make sure to toggle action camera mode. This reduces difficulty to the nth degree. I can’t imagine how you could possibly play it without the mouse, tho. Sorry. If you can bind your camera controls though, it should play something like mechwarrior 2, which would be awesome.

Other than the advice you’ve already dismissed I really can’t see what would be appropriate. Playing full-keyboard really is the biggest problem you have here. Other options, bind an xbox or sony controller, perhaps for the pupose of the JP? It wouldn’t have enough controls for the main game, but since you only need camera, move and jump, it could work a treat.

I haven’t tried to make it work yet. But any chance you could use a controller? Like the Xbox one? I know some people who’ve made it work with this game.

Platformer is kind of a console thing, might as well use a console controller.

constructive advise…

practice and practice and more practice……
to the point that it become a muscle memory
dont keep changing path, keep to one path
understand your character, how far your character can jump, how extreme your character can stand on the edge before falling, how high it can jump and by knowing those, you will then know where to position and jump without being too little or too much
don’t get caught up by other players’ pace and timing, maintain your own pace and timing
don’t hesitant to jump
finally, use a mouse or you can forget about completing it. period.

TexZero.7910:

loseridoit.2756:

Or atleast implement action camera.

Joking right ?

Have you tried enabling action camera from the options.

Either way the problem really is, that the user if possible needs to use a mouse.
It will be a major QoL change for them. Unless they only have one hand, in which case im extremely sorry but the puzzle will forever be a hurdle to overcome.

i trying to figure out where all the options are.

I’m sorry to say but you got to used the mouse!

The first part of the JP (before reaching the present platform) is all about speed as if you’re turning the camera and jumping in one flowing motion! Ok sure you can stop to turn a couple of times I’m ahead of the snowflake and candy cane platform spawning but you can’t do it for long.

Heck, this was the sole reason why I had to order a new graphic card asap cos the old one had made the game too choppy which I know for a fact I wouldn’t able to do the JP with that card.

I see people saying to “use a mouse”. This makes me wonder, do most people playing this game not use a mouse?
[sorry for not being topic relevant, just curious]

Don’t get stuck behind an 8 foot Norn/Charr…

Action Camera / Combat Mode / Any autohotkey script to toggle on right click helps…

Don’t rush.

I like the left and right path. Not too keen on the middle path.

As it’s been mentioned several times already, the answer is a mouse. You can use wrist straps or ace bandages to support your wrist. The JP is certainly a mouse only type of content.

If you are using the keyboard to turn then you will have a lot of problem doing the first part of the JP

Here’s an idea turn action camera on for a few day and play the game, once you get used to it you can turn it off and congrats you learnt to turn with your mouse and keybind with your keyboard /clap

First off, gingerbread’s my jam as well. I recommend strafe-jumping on the peppermint sticks, usually gives me a better viewing angle and a more controlled jump for the shorter distance. Try to avoid starting the gift jump with a large group of people, they’ll get in your way and set off gifts beneath you. Other than that it’s pretty hit-or-miss for me on the gifts. When you pass them, be sure to dodge past the snowman at the top. Every once in a while he’ll catch you with a breeze and knock you off. I actually never even noticed it was a thing until this year, so I guess it doesn’t line up often. And don’t get greedy during the snowball course. One snowball = one dash to the next safe zone.

Apart from that, yeeaah, hate to jump on the mouse bandwagon, but I can’t really see any way to complete such a reaction and speed based puzzle without one. You say it’d kill your wrist… do you use a really low sensitivity? If you bump it up and practice small, controlled movements, your hand and wrist hardly move, even when completely reversing directions. I really do think it’d be worth the effort, unless you have an existing condition that prevents it. In that case, as has been said before, I’m afraid you’re most likely out of luck.

cakemonkey.6347:

I haven’t tried to make it work yet. But any chance you could use a controller? Like the Xbox one? I know some people who’ve made it work with this game.

Platformer is kind of a console thing, might as well use a console controller.

This. I use a XBox controller with action camera enabled. It makes the jump puzzle 100x easier than keyboard or mouse. However, I prefer platformer jumping puzzles with a controller no matter what, so this method may not work for everyone.

Try the controller option if you can, if you absolutely can not use a mouse.

On a related note, try different mice, if standard ones hurt you, there are many ergonomic options, as well as trackballs (never tried one, don’t know if it’d be good or not). Beyond that, see a specialist or a sports chiropractor and see if they can do anything for you (For your health, not necessarily for the JP lol).

I really, really struggled with the puzzle at first too. The first year I think it was actually after Christmas before I was able to get even 1/2 way, and close to the end of the festival before I could complete it. Now I can do it relatively easily, I’ve apparently done it 47 times this year. Based on that here’s my suggestions:

You should definitely, definitely use action camera mode and the mouse to move the camera. It makes a huge difference to the speed you can turn, and therefore do the puzzle, and if you’re using action camera to avoid holding down the mouse button it shouldn’t hurt your wrist at all.

(If necessary you could also turn up your mouse sensitivity so you don’t need to move it as much, using the dedicated software if it has it or your OS, in Windows you go to Start > Devices and Printers > Right click mouse icon > Mouse settings. Putting your actual physical mouse on a surface with minimal friction might help too.)

On a related note make sure you can reach both your move forward key and your jump key comfortably without moving your hand. For most people the defaults (W and space bar) are fine but if it’s in any way a problem move one somewhere more comfortable. (I’m left-handed so I moved jump to \ so I can have my index finger on that and my middle finger on W.)

Once you’ve got the controls sorted out the best approach is to pick a path and stick to it. People will say all kinds of things like snowman is faster or gingerbread has shorter jumps or whatever, but the most important thing is that you like it. Me? I always do the quaggan one. I can’t even remember why now, but I do know I find it much harder to do the others because it’s gotten to the point where I just know that path – I couldn’t describe it or draw it, but when I’m doing it I know exactly what to do and when.

Also bear in mind that most of the platforms (even the little snowflakes) are big enough that you don’t have to be perfectly precise. Always aim for the middle and if you fall a bit short or overshoot a bit you’ll probably still make it.

This one is hard to remember when you’re doing it but if you can it’s extremely useful: This game does not use realistic physics: you have no actual momentum when in the air. Which means a run-up won’t help you jump further (except for ensuring you’re holding W when you jump) and no matter how fast you were going when you left the ground you will drop straight down as soon as you let go of W. So it may actually be better to aim to overshoot your target a bit because you can always let go of the button when you’re in the right place.
Also, try not to panic. You have more than enough health to reach the check point in the middle and then the end and enough time on each platform to make quick adjustments where you need to. You can’t stop on a snowflake to use post a comment in chat but you can take a second to adjust your hands or check the route without sacrificing your chance of success. (In the final section when you’re on the snow ramp it’s actually better to wait in the safe spots until you’re sure it’s ok to continue than to try and rush.)

Finally, just keep practicing. I know it’s frustrating, but if you keep at it you will get better. In some ways this puzzle reminds me of one track in Diddy Kong Racing (which was crazy-hard for a cartoony racer) – I was absolutely terrible at it, could not do it at all, so I kept doing it in time trial mode until I knew it by heart and it actually became the one I was best at.

My advice is be reckless; don’t stop moving forward and continuously jump. Keep practicing in this manner till you reach a point in the snowflake section where you just can’t pass doing this method. That is where you take your time to make a coordinated jump.

Once you make that jump; be reckless again till you reach another section you can’t get past doing that. Then it’s time for another stop.

I chose to master the snowman path. On that one there were 3 sections where I had to take my time. The rest was constant motion. Doing that I ended up ~1200 HP by the time I reached the checkpoint that refills your health. Sometimes I slowed down a bit and still had health left, but not much. So I assume 3-4 sections will allow you to take your time and make it to the checkpoint. But everything else you have to keep moving.

TeslaRaptor.5197:

I see people saying to “use a mouse”. This makes me wonder, do most people playing this game not use a mouse?
[sorry for not being topic relevant, just curious]

The OP has pain issues with using a mouse and thus relies on keyboard turning. The replies are telling him/her that the keyboard simply won’t cut it for the reaction times needed in this JP.

What I don’t grok is how to do it -with- a mouse. I mouse move, though I suppose I could go ESO style with the action camera and just steer with the mouse. But I’m not sure I could handle constant fast jumping with the space bar while holding down the W, I really start to hurt if I have to press multiple keys at once for more than a moment. So I run out of mouse pad space given the lack of time to shift the mouse back to center.

I still don’t know why I died that one time I made it to a tower top in the first set of snowflakes, I was jumping along as fast as others around me and boom, dead.

I’d honestly not bother.
in an hour and a half I got over once, to get rick rolled by the snowball.
Maybe into the middle 6 times, 5 of which the presents exploded and ruined that.
The rest.. almost into the middle another 10 times but ran out of health despite being pretty quick.
And then fall to doom all the other times.

This is either fun or not and when it isn’t.. it’s probably not going to be.

Donari.5237:

TeslaRaptor.5197:

I see people saying to “use a mouse”. This makes me wonder, do most people playing this game not use a mouse?
[sorry for not being topic relevant, just curious]

The OP has pain issues with using a mouse and thus relies on keyboard turning. The replies are telling him/her that the keyboard simply won’t cut it for the reaction times needed in this JP.

What I don’t grok is how to do it -with- a mouse. I mouse move, though I suppose I could go ESO style with the action camera and just steer with the mouse. But I’m not sure I could handle constant fast jumping with the space bar while holding down the W, I really start to hurt if I have to press multiple keys at once for more than a moment. So I run out of mouse pad space given the lack of time to shift the mouse back to center.

I still don’t know why I died that one time I made it to a tower top in the first set of snowflakes, I was jumping along as fast as others around me and boom, dead.

Does it hurt if you try to push any 2 keys? Or just ones as far apart as W and space?

If it’s the first one then your best bet might be to turn on auto-run and push both mouse buttons to stop when you need to (because for most of the puzzle you can just keep moving).

If it’s the second one then re-bind one or the other to a more comfortable position. I was discussing this in guild chat just now and one person told me that since they weren’t using the keyboard to turn they temporarily bound jump to S so they just have to use W and S, which is very comfortable.

You probably could do it using mouse movement, but I always find that less precise. The way I do it is to use the mouse to turn (with action camera on so I’m not holding the button) and then the keyboard to move and jump. Because you’re using the mouse to turn (and your character can do an instant about-face on the spot) you only need to use 2 keys – 1 to move forward and 1 to jump.

If using a mouse causes your wrist too much strain, I would suggest trying a trackball instead. It takes getting used to, but the thumb offers much finer control than a mouse does (even comparing a low DPI trackball vs. a high DPI mouse).

I would suggest something like the Elecom M-XT2URBK, but you would have to swap out the ball with one from an old Logitech Trackman (discontinued due to lawsuit by some European mouse designer) because the one that comes with the Elecom model has a flaw that causes the laser to miss some movements (probably the color, Logitech balls are blue or red with black dots for the laser to track, the Elecom ball is almost pure black with silver flecks).

Failing that, I suppose you can give a controller a shot, I don’t know how you could set that up though, because you can bind almost everything to a controller except the camera controls (which you really need for those tight turns).

Yep, I would second the trackball advice. I have carpal tunnel and I LOVE my trackball. I use a Logitech M570 and it’s great. For the turns in the JP instead of having to swing the mouse, it’s SO much easier to fling the ball around with my thumb. I personally like the Snowman (middle) path best, but I seem to be in the minority.

For the snowman path, with the jump on the candy canes bit, you don’t actually have to jump on both of them (nor should you). You take a large jump right on the second cane. There’s pretty much no risk to fall that way.

Snowman path is imo the fastest and easiest, with 3 shortcuts to take.

As for the snowballs, remember that they only hurt you at the front bottom of them. You can actually jump right through the sides of them, without any risk of getting hit.

OP here. After reading the advice on this thread, my plan is as follows:

• Dig up my old wrist brace (or buy a new one from CVS — they’re cheap). This should support my wrist enough to use the mouse for a while.

• Use wrist brace, mouse, action camera, W and space. Camera rotation is on max. I’ll keep with the gingerbread path I’ve done best with so far.

• Limit practice sessions to one hour at a time.

That should get me through the wrist issues.

Oddly, hearing so much about how a mouse is needed is encouraging because of how far I was able to get without one, though I ultimately freeze before hitting the midpoint, but it looks like a checkpoint is just past the peppermint discs where I freeze. So, just a small edge will help me make it, and hopefully the mouse will give that edge I need.

Thanks, all.

Right side path is easiest because the candy canes ascend instead of descend, making it much safer on those particular jumps, which I find to be a common falling point.

Also, when you start getting close to the fire checkpoint, don’t look at your health, just ignore it. I’ve missed many a jump because I would be nervous about not having enough health and looked at it, then missed my next jump because I lost my bearings.

The exploding gifts part is easiest IMO. Stand lined up with center column. As soon as you see the bottom one spawn, go straight up the middle. Most of the time those don’t explode early so it’s safe, every now and again you may have to jump to a left or right one, but that’s something you will learn to identify.

But honestly, I don’t know if keyboard turning is going to cut it, man. Using the mouse may be a requirement here, I don’t know of any way to do the turns fast enough.

Perhaps look into a good wrist brace or something you can wear while you do it.

Good luck OP! Once you get to the presents your health goes back to full, so don’t sweat thinking you’re almost dead before then.

If there are only Red presents, wait for them to all spawn then head straight forward from the present just to the right of center. You can wait there and see other people take it if you’re unsure which path I mean. If you see a present wiggle that means it’s going to pop soon. This isn’t a problem if you are on it because you can jump off, but if it is ahead of you, try moving to the row beside it and keep going forward.

If blue presents are there, take the 3rd column of presents from the left. They are usually the last ones to despawn.

Dodge roll as you approach the candy cane stick that leads down to the snowball track; there is a snowman to the right that can knock you off with wind if you don’t dodge.

Once you get to the snowballs you don’t need to be reckless; wait for them to pass and get to the safe spots.

At the end you need to jump on more presents but these are always there. Jump on the two blue ones, then travel along the candy cane, then more blue ones until you jump in the big box.

I hope this helps!

I’ve had this trouble with some guild members that are somewhat new to MMOs.

To short answer is that you should learn to turn with your mouse. When playing any sort of actiony game on a PC, turning with a keyboard is like playing a console game and refusing to use the right thumbstick.

Mouse camera control is an integral part of PC gaming, and most games with 3d camera control are designed around the concept that players will be using the mouse for controlling the camera.

learning that skill has favorable repercussions beyond this JP. You’ll find that once you’re comfortable with it, you’ll also be better at GW2, and many other PC games just because you’ve learned to use the intended control scheme.

If it kills your hand, experiment with mouse sensitivity settings. after a while most people end up using very high sensitivity. I can do a completel 360 of my camera by moving my mouse about an inch, and that’s on the low end of common sensitivity settings.

It will be awkward at first, ut I’d say try the new action camera to “force” yourself in to it for a while, and just do some easy content that way until you’re used to it. Once you’re there, there’s no going back, and you’ll wonder how you were ever happy turning with the keyboard.

Good luck!

Well, I’ve tried it with a mouse until I got too sore to try anymore.

• I made it to the midpoint twice. Each time I jumped too short to reach the first present. I’m not sure why I’m not jumping far enough — I’m either letting go of W without meaning to or noticing (and I’m not sure that I am), or I’m not jumping from far enough forwards to start.

• I was disappointed that dying after the first checkpoint takes you back to the start, and not the checkpoint. So, it’s not really a checkpoint. That makes it hard to practice the second half and figure out what I’m doing wrong.

• I wish I could lock the vertical axis and just use the mouse to go left and right. I start with a top-down view, and the camera altitude keeps dropping, so I need to stop to raise it again.

• The camera sensitivity slider still doesn’t seem to do anything.

• Overall, mouse control feels chaotic, with the camera jerking all over the place. This makes muscle memory impossible, as the camera is in a different place from run to run. Plus, now there are more controls, so there is more to keep track of. It just feels harder, though the initial turns are much faster.

ekarat.1085:

• I made it to the midpoint twice. Each time I jumped too short to reach the first present. I’m not sure why I’m not jumping far enough — I’m either letting go of W without meaning to or noticing (and I’m not sure that I am), or I’m not jumping from far enough forwards to start.

If you go before the blue presents appear (which you should), this is indeed a very long jump. You need to do a running jump at the very last moment before falling off of the peppermint.

Cirrion.8951:

ekarat.1085:

• I made it to the midpoint twice. Each time I jumped too short to reach the first present. I’m not sure why I’m not jumping far enough — I’m either letting go of W without meaning to or noticing (and I’m not sure that I am), or I’m not jumping from far enough forwards to start.

If you go before the blue presents appear (which you should), this is indeed a very long jump. You need to do a running jump at the very last moment before falling off of the peppermint.

Running jump? I thought the physics meant that running jumps aren’t any better than standing jumps?

ekarat.1085:

Cirrion.8951:

ekarat.1085:

• I made it to the midpoint twice. Each time I jumped too short to reach the first present. I’m not sure why I’m not jumping far enough — I’m either letting go of W without meaning to or noticing (and I’m not sure that I am), or I’m not jumping from far enough forwards to start.

If you go before the blue presents appear (which you should), this is indeed a very long jump. You need to do a running jump at the very last moment before falling off of the peppermint.

Running jump? I thought the physics meant that running jumps aren’t any better than standing jumps?

A useful trick I picked up in my SAB tribulation days is the dodge jump. If dodge isn’t already bound to V, I recommend doing so. I believe V might be default. If you hit V and space (jump) at the same time while moving forward you jump extra far. It’s a guaranteed way to make it to that first present (not the blue one, don’t wait for the blue ones).

ekarat.1085:

Cirrion.8951:

ekarat.1085:

• I made it to the midpoint twice. Each time I jumped too short to reach the first present. I’m not sure why I’m not jumping far enough — I’m either letting go of W without meaning to or noticing (and I’m not sure that I am), or I’m not jumping from far enough forwards to start.

If you go before the blue presents appear (which you should), this is indeed a very long jump. You need to do a running jump at the very last moment before falling off of the peppermint.

Running jump? I thought the physics meant that running jumps aren’t any better than standing jumps?

They’re not, but it’s much easier to make sure you’re moving forward right from the start of the jump than if you have a standing start.

ekarat.1085:

• Overall, mouse control feels chaotic, with the camera jerking all over the place. This makes muscle memory impossible, as the camera is in a different place from run to run. Plus, now there are more controls, so there is more to keep track of. It just feels harder, though the initial turns are much faster.

It’s going to, for a while.

Think of it like riding a bike. At first, you’d get on the bike, and your arms would flail left and right, the front tire would wobble, and it seemed almost impossible to control.

After a while though, as you get used to the interface, making it do what you want becomes second nature.

The same is true of your mouse camera control. Just practice it and soon it becomes second nature.

PopeUrban.2578:

ekarat.1085:

• Overall, mouse control feels chaotic, with the camera jerking all over the place. This makes muscle memory impossible, as the camera is in a different place from run to run. Plus, now there are more controls, so there is more to keep track of. It just feels harder, though the initial turns are much faster.

It’s going to, for a while.

Think of it like riding a bike. At first, you’d get on the bike, and your arms would flail left and right, the front tire would wobble, and it seemed almost impossible to control.

After a while though, as you get used to the interface, making it do what you want becomes second nature.

The same is true of your mouse camera control. Just practice it and soon it becomes second nature.

Clearly I should try practicing the shooting gallery adventure in Verdant Brink. (half-serious)

Draknar.5748:

ekarat.1085:

Cirrion.8951:

ekarat.1085:

• I made it to the midpoint twice. Each time I jumped too short to reach the first present. I’m not sure why I’m not jumping far enough — I’m either letting go of W without meaning to or noticing (and I’m not sure that I am), or I’m not jumping from far enough forwards to start.

If you go before the blue presents appear (which you should), this is indeed a very long jump. You need to do a running jump at the very last moment before falling off of the peppermint.

Running jump? I thought the physics meant that running jumps aren’t any better than standing jumps?

A useful trick I picked up in my SAB tribulation days is the dodge jump. If dodge isn’t already bound to V, I recommend doing so. I believe V might be default. If you hit V and space (jump) at the same time while moving forward you jump extra far. It’s a guaranteed way to make it to that first present (not the blue one, don’t wait for the blue ones).

Not quite accurate on several counts:

• Not guaranteed to work, since it doesn’t work for me most of the time.
• Many keyboards cannot register 3 keys pressed simultaneously, so W, V, and space cannot all register with some keyboards. Let me emphasize that this is not about reaction speed but hardware limitations on some keyboards.
• From doing this before, V and space need to be one after the other, not simultaneous. I’ve seen another thread confirm this.
• Basically, with one chance per hour of play, I don’t want to risk something so unreliable as the dodge-jump, which I’ve done once or twice ever and not with my current keyboard.

I’m doing it without the dodge-jump or a running start — just stand on the very edge of the peppermint.

congratulations on making it to the midpoint.
I reckon your success rate will just improve.
you probably are jumping from too far back. take a moment to observe the other players and see where they’re leaping from (success or failure, note both)
the camera drop sounds like your mouse is drifting down so pay attention to where your mouse is trending as you move it.

chaotic camera movement sounds like a sensitivity problem. but you’re not seeing any difference, so i’m not sure. you want your sensitivity high enough so small movements are enough, but not so high that it’s uncontrollable.

i believe most falls occur on the snowflakes and the stairs, there’s some breaking in past that, but you’re mostly done.
good luck, given your progress i think you’ve got this beat, you just need the experience to put it all together.

I’m a little be of a latecomer to the thread, but you need to use a mouse for these speed/time sensitive puzzles. I would recommend steering the mouse using your thumb and pinky finger as much as possible to limit the strain on your wrist and get a hand rest to keep your wrist elevated and as straight as possible.

When it comes to boosts, you don’t want any. All jumping puzzles with the exception of a very limited number are spaced for regular run speed and a speed boost will make many puzzles much more difficult causing you to overshoot landings. All the exceptions are jumps that are shorter…not longer. I’ve done all of the puzzles multiple times and there are no puzzles in the game where a speed boost is necessary. As for the Winterday puzzle, there are a couple “short” jumps, such as the candy canes on path 2 (The only path I know). These can be more tricky than anything else. The rest of it solely relies on your ability to quickly and accurately jump and steer and this only comes with practice. Once you figure out the timing on the last part after the gift stairs, it becomes simple.

It’s not impossible by any stretch to finish this puzzle using keyboard alone. That’s the only way I’ve ever finished it, whether on my laptop or for my mom on her desktop, but I also don’t use WASD. I prefer SDFC. (That may or may not make a difference; those are the bindings I’ve been using in MMO’s for fifteen years, so the muscle memory is strong.)

Granted, you probably won’t ever get 10+ finishes in an instance, and you really need to do what you can to make sure your graphics are smooth. If I enter the puzzle and mine are choppy or delayed, I leave, because I know that it won’t be happening.

Edit to add — I do use the touchpad to rotate the camera once or twice, usually at the beginning, then at the safe spot, but all actual navigation is done through SDFC.

So, I got my three completions!

The first one happened the first time I made the first jump after the midpoint. After that, I did the second half on my first try! However, that was somewhat lucky, and the second completion took several play sessions after that. By then, I was being more consistent, so the third success took some work, but not as much as between the first and second success.

Also, I had to do a different JP, and I was being better at that one too. However, I’m burnt out on JP for the moment. While the control scheme does work, it also does cause me pain in my hands and wrists if I use it too much, so I don’t want to use it as my default control scheme. Keyboard is easier on my hands/wrists.

Thank you, all. If I can get the 10k drinks now, I can say that I’ve earned Winter’s Presence.

ekarat.1085:

Draknar.5748:

ekarat.1085:

Cirrion.8951:

ekarat.1085:

• I made it to the midpoint twice. Each time I jumped too short to reach the first present. I’m not sure why I’m not jumping far enough — I’m either letting go of W without meaning to or noticing (and I’m not sure that I am), or I’m not jumping from far enough forwards to start.

If you go before the blue presents appear (which you should), this is indeed a very long jump. You need to do a running jump at the very last moment before falling off of the peppermint.

Running jump? I thought the physics meant that running jumps aren’t any better than standing jumps?

A useful trick I picked up in my SAB tribulation days is the dodge jump. If dodge isn’t already bound to V, I recommend doing so. I believe V might be default. If you hit V and space (jump) at the same time while moving forward you jump extra far. It’s a guaranteed way to make it to that first present (not the blue one, don’t wait for the blue ones).

Not quite accurate on several counts:

• Not guaranteed to work, since it doesn’t work for me most of the time.
• Many keyboards cannot register 3 keys pressed simultaneously, so W, V, and space cannot all register with some keyboards. Let me emphasize that this is not about reaction speed but hardware limitations on some keyboards.
• From doing this before, V and space need to be one after the other, not simultaneous. I’ve seen another thread confirm this.
• Basically, with one chance per hour of play, I don’t want to risk something so unreliable as the dodge-jump, which I’ve done once or twice ever and not with my current keyboard.

It’s guaranteed for me. Not sure what else to say. I never miss it, and I absolutely hit both simultaneously. Just takes practice I guess. Which you can always practice outside of the JP.

Draknar.5748:

ekarat.1085:

Draknar.5748:

ekarat.1085:

Cirrion.8951:

ekarat.1085:

• I made it to the midpoint twice. Each time I jumped too short to reach the first present. I’m not sure why I’m not jumping far enough — I’m either letting go of W without meaning to or noticing (and I’m not sure that I am), or I’m not jumping from far enough forwards to start.

If you go before the blue presents appear (which you should), this is indeed a very long jump. You need to do a running jump at the very last moment before falling off of the peppermint.

Running jump? I thought the physics meant that running jumps aren’t any better than standing jumps?

A useful trick I picked up in my SAB tribulation days is the dodge jump. If dodge isn’t already bound to V, I recommend doing so. I believe V might be default. If you hit V and space (jump) at the same time while moving forward you jump extra far. It’s a guaranteed way to make it to that first present (not the blue one, don’t wait for the blue ones).

Not quite accurate on several counts:

• Not guaranteed to work, since it doesn’t work for me most of the time.
• Many keyboards cannot register 3 keys pressed simultaneously, so W, V, and space cannot all register with some keyboards. Let me emphasize that this is not about reaction speed but hardware limitations on some keyboards.
• From doing this before, V and space need to be one after the other, not simultaneous. I’ve seen another thread confirm this.
• Basically, with one chance per hour of play, I don’t want to risk something so unreliable as the dodge-jump, which I’ve done once or twice ever and not with my current keyboard.

It’s guaranteed for me. Not sure what else to say. I never miss it, and I absolutely hit both simultaneously. Just takes practice I guess. Which you can always practice outside of the JP.

It’s a hardware thing and depends on the keyboard.