~Dr. Seuss
To those who got portal (beta key)
~Dr. Seuss
A friend of mine got it literally 5 minutes after the patch hit (dust mites event in DT). I just received mine, after around 20 hours of farming (4th Vinewrath in SW).
Son of Elonia.
Putting aside the drop rate and other conspiracy theories – I’m reading this thread (and other similar) and see a lot of complains about the way ANet decided to distribute beta passes. And I find a lot of them really immature :/
I like that they decided to do this this way. Last time it was said that they are going to choose “among active players and loyal customers”. Meaning: among these that spend the most time and/or money on gw2. Ofcourse I did not get in…
Well, I have a job and other responsibilities in rl – I’m already spending in this game more time than I probably should. What I want to say is why should I be penalized for having a life outside the game?? I’m sure there are a lot of people who can play only few hours a week, they would never get into beta because compared to these who spend 10+ hours PER DAY they are not considered “active”. So yes, I think this idea is much better.
Besides, hello people – it’s BETA! You will get all the content and more then the HoT will come out. Shees, you complain like they are giving out free copies of the game….
Putting aside the drop rate and other conspiracy theories – I’m reading this thread (and other similar) and see a lot of complains about the way ANet decided to distribute beta passes. And I find a lot of them really immature :/
I like that they decided to do this this way. Last time it was said that they are going to choose “among active players and loyal customers”. Meaning: among these that spend the most time and/or money on gw2. Ofcourse I did not get in…
Well, I have a job and other responsibilities in rl – I’m already spending in this game more time than I probably should. What I want to say is why should I be penalized for having a life outside the game?? I’m sure there are a lot of people who can play only few hours a week, they would never get into beta because compared to these who spend 10+ hours PER DAY they are not considered “active”. So yes, I think this idea is much better.
Besides, hello people – it’s BETA! You will get all the content and more then the HoT will come out. Shees, you complain like they are giving out free copies of the game….
no. RNG is stupid way to do it.
#1. You’ll get people who won’t be able to even show up for the test, because they’ll have work or be out of town, etc. That’s a waste of an invite.
#2. Some people just farm those areas for the amber weapons, luminescent armor, or just for gold and have no interest in beta, they may get portals and cannot trade them or give them away, another waste of an invite.
#3. People are getting multiple invites, and again, cannot give extras to other people.
as for “it’s only a beta” there are a few reasons why it’s not just something to brush off.
#1. This is our time to see changes in effect before they go live, if something completely breaks the game for us, we can give feedback on it and hopefully get it changed to where it doesn’t do that. You know how when changes are announced people forsee problems with it and then a bunch of people say “well it’s not even in game yet u don’t no if its relly dat bad” or “don’t cross that bridge until you come to it”, yeah when we have no say in the matter and those changes hit and we cross that bridge, there’s a pretty strong tendency that Anet won’t remove the bridge once it’s built and people crossed it, and if they DO fix it, it’s going to take at least a year for it to come as a part of a feature pack. Fiery Greatsword went from being a powerful, fun elite for damage, to something that is only used to mimic 2 warrior GS abilities for “mobility”, as people predicted ahead of time, but hey, “just wait and c, it’ll still b gud anet said so!” right? Now they’re talking about giving the same treatment to our other 2 good conjures.. But anyway, for ANY change or new content added, betas are your time to tell the devs “this doesn’t fly” and you have a much better chance at getting it changed before it launches.
#2. This game isn’t getting any new content or things to do until HoT pretty much, that can be a long time of nothing but the same stale content every day. Being able to participate in betas is at least something fresh. Because for those of us not getting to do beta, what’s our motivation to play? “NEW ESPORTS TOURNY! COME WATCH THE ACTION ON TWITCH!”… yeah…
I think am gunna need a good massage after farming SW so much lol, everywhere is numb.
Grats to the guys who got one, but for me it seems like an impossible dream, probably been farming up to 3-12hrs a day (what ever I can fit in) and still nothing.
I was looking for one via farming mobs and events, around 14 – 16+ hours a day, even considered maybe I should do something else as I thought I just wasn’t going to be lucky.
But then this morning (Sunday) I finished a small event and there was one in the reward chest. So it’s not impossible although it does seem that way after killing thousands of mobs.
What got me, of all the grinding of mobs, which was extremely boring (in between or when I didn’t feel like doing an event), it actually came out of an event chest.
From Tuesday until now I’ve done at least 31 main events, those at least were good for getting the parts for the armour.
(edited by Azala Yar.7693)
I’ve created a short video about some ideas I’ve had here:
I got mine as a drop from one of the dusts or devours that attack Haze during his escort event in Dry Top just an hour ago. Most of this week I was trying to get the portal in The Silverwastes but got burned out on that zone and wanted to finish collecting the recipes for the amber weapons from DT.
Pretty much where I got both of mine. Assuming that the drop rate is the same across both drops and event chests, people are better off farming Dry Top or at the very least during the sandstorms.
Good luck everybody who wants one of these things.
Got mine in about 3 hrs of just going between Defending Red and protecting Yaks. FYI mine came from a escort yak chest.
Same. I got one off a red escort at that first regular encounter with the roots. I was in the map two minutes before getting one, after spending ~30hrs in DT and then going to SW. That was a few days ago. First day was horrible, never saw one drop for anyone in DT, but after the patch it was dropping around once an hour for someone on the map. I went back to DT a little, but now the keys are not dropping as much, too many AFK’ers and they are struggling to even get the map to progress past T3.
I was in on and off throughout the day, been trying to get one since it started. Finally I was about to log out and just thought I’d see if anything was happening in Prospct Valley, killed some inquest and suddenly a random chest showed, found one in there (we were watching Avengers and my friend thought I yelled in triumph at the end battle in that!).
Anyway, so glad to get out of Silverwastes and DryTop, really find those areas boring.
My friend farmed like a madman for 2-3 days while I was at work. Saturday I logged to join him, dropped the portal in 1st hour of Silverwaste run, from a reward chest. I was pretty “shush”, didnt said anything, just a mumbled “kitten”, knowing that he’ll fume:D
Lucky me, he dropped it too after another hour.
Before we did Silverwaste , asprox. 6 ppl got it in Dry Top.
Anyway, I guess Anet listed it as a rare drop to make sure that crazy grinding determined players will surely get it, as to be honest, they do need crazy 24h/day players for beta testing and this is something understandable.
The bad thing is that is no option to mail/gift the beta test key to a friend. Myself I will willingly pass mine as I know for sure that are 50% chances to be at work when beta test is deployed
Got it..wasnt actually looking for it, just grinding for gear to salvage into mats. Got it from an event chest
Got the beta key today in SW during the VW pre-events. Had no intention of farming for it, was simply my once-a-week farming routine in DT/SW.
Was on and off in SW since the announcement for around 4hours total. Then went on a farm binge for 18hours through Saturday night, finally got it Sunday morning at around 10AM.
Had tons of fun commanding Indigo for hours on end within the same map and same people.
To all my fellow Watchers on the Walls of Indigo! Thanks guys, you were awesome!
(edited by GrandHaven.1052)
RNGesus demands more sacrifice!
Working on: Engineer
I got mine from the SW labyrinth event chest. Been farming for the key for 3 days so I guess around 16 to 18 hrs actually in-game? I was very very happy when I got it and literally jumped from my chair. =)
Server: Seafarer’s Rest
day 1: farmed both SW and DT for 7hours. no luck
day 2: went to Blue fort and farmed fort till i died(1hour, ppl ditched fort), wp to camp and opened all bonus chests. 6th chest got lucky
How many people are they looking for I wonder…also, when you find the portal stone, do not forget to register for the newsletter
i’ve put in about 15-16 hours in dry top and silverwastes (alternating every hour or two to get around DR) and havent’ gotten one.
I’ve gotten it in my second silverwastes that i’ve done. I think the trick is to not want to get it because i only went there to get some crazy loot.
I think my soul has left me. It was the farming. I know this will be fruitless, but I farm on anyway.
At least I am a little richer. xD
I got one after 2 days of trying. I think I spend 4/5 hours each day.
Portal = purple = purple dyes increases drop chance.
How many people are they looking for I wonder…also, when you find the portal stone, do not forget to register for the newsletter
It drops for people who aren’t already signed up? This is the first I’ve heard about a newsletter and I read the patch notes and map chat.
Tootsie dropped it for me!
It’s funny… I wasn’t really hoping to get one; all I wanted was to use this event as an excuse to farm geodes for the ambrite weapons, now that many people are in dry top.
The portal dropped exactly as my geodes count reached 400 (twas the second time)… Hilarious. I improvised a war dance in my studio and scared the hell out of my cat.
I’m slightly richer, in possess of 2 new ambrite weapons and with a pass to the beta.
Today was a good day.
P.S. Slightly unsettled by the lack of mails in my email… and apparently I’m signed up.
(edited by deSade.9437)
I spent about 30 hours so far and nothing.
My 4 guildmates got portals in first 10 minutes, where 2 of them got it from first event.
Meh..
btw I was using a thief shortbow. It’s my farming weapon of choice due to the poison aoe (though I have 0 CD but doesn’t matter) that I can quickly cover a large area before speed bouncing arrow shots among five mobs on a constant running target rotation (more than 5 a second) 111111111. You don’t need to totally annihilate a target as I’ve been seeing quite a few do, but just tag as many as you can with enough damage to count. I would think most would know that, but in DT I’ve seen things… odd things…
As much as I would love to get into the beta, there is no way Im going to completely burn myself out trying to farm it. I already had enough of this place getting my coat boxes and mordrem parts, so anymore than a couple runs a day is too much >_>
25 hours spent grinding this so far with no drop! =D But hey, it means more time spent in Dry Top and Silverwastes, two very exciting, brand new maps! =D
Been out there striving for that ever elusive Portal drop all week. About 9 hrs worth on Saturday and some on Sunday too but alas no soup for me.
I will need to settle on basking in the good-fortune of my luck saturated guildmate who will be testing beta for the… second time.
Hah, so I was just farming events in SW. I had something like ~20 unopened event chests. Then I got DC just before last boss event. My character was moved to LA (have no idea why) and when I logged in, all my chests dissapeared. REALLY ?
Since the announcement about the beta portals I’ve been farming SW without stop. Yesterday, fortunately, I got it from the event chest of Solus’s event to unlock the Hidden Depths WP. I spent many hours farming that ticket but I cannot say it wasn’t worth it, and I say that not only because I got the portal, but also I got a LOT o gold. To those still searching, don’t give up, sooner or later you’ll get it too.
After 100+ hours in SW, I finally give up and accept the truth!
I never got a precursor after burning through 2000+ gold and I will never get a portal or anything by pure RNG anymore.
Screw the beta, I will buy the expansion when it comes. At least that is for sure.
After 100+ hours in SW, I finally give up and accept the truth!
I never got a precursor after burning through 2000+ gold and I will never get a portal or anything by pure RNG anymore.
Screw the beta, I will buy the expansion when it comes. At least that is for sure.
I was the same way up until an hour ago.
I just ended a VW and opened a Bandit Chest and low and behold one showed up out of that.
I have been doing almost nothing but DT/SW with the occasional PvP thrown in yesterday.
Just keep at it, or don’t your choice in the end.
I did SW for roughly 6 hours a night since the portal event started and I finally got one Friday night. I mostly ran between 2 camps tagging events and it was either from a escort or a camp defense event.
Good luck to everyone who’s trying for a portal!
(And yes, it’s truly random, not determined by your astrological sign, the number of letters in your name, or the color of your socks. )
Ah…so underwear color and born in a month that ends in a “y” then?….sneaky.
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That’s the way that lady luck dances
Entered Silverwastes for the first time in two weeks, wasn’t even there for the portal (just for bandit crests).
Got it after 10 minutes.
11/10, would dumb luck again.
~Sincerely, Scissors
I got a portal after a little over 60 hours of farming. I did about 15 hours of Silverwastes, then 40 hours of Drytop, then a little over 5 hours on Silverwastes again. I got mine from the event chest that appears at the corner of the screen at the end of Vinewrath.
A friend of mine got hers literally 5-10 minutes after the patch hit from a Veteran event monster in Silverwastes.
The only advice I can give is to not give up. It’s truly random; just keep trying and alternate Drytop/Silverwastes so you don’t get burned out.
After 100+ hours in SW, I finally give up and accept the truth!
I never got a precursor after burning through 2000+ gold and I will never get a portal or anything by pure RNG anymore.
Screw the beta, I will buy the expansion when it comes. At least that is for sure.
I was the same way up until an hour ago.
I just ended a VW and opened a Bandit Chest and low and behold one showed up out of that.
I have been doing almost nothing but DT/SW with the occasional PvP thrown in yesterday.
Just keep at it, or don’t your choice in the end.
You got it from a Lost Bandit Chest? But I thought they didn’t drop from those.
Yeah I’ve been out in SW for 30h+ (work eats up a lot of time) I haven’t found one, but I just can’t grind anymore. I can’t take it. For my sanity I have to stop and do PvP or map completion.
When you have the timings of the events down to the point that you can tag silver/gold in about 8-12 per 10m, then I think I’ve been out here to long. </rambling>
Good luck to everyone who’s trying for a portal!
(And yes, it’s truly random, not determined by your astrological sign, the number of letters in your name, or the color of your socks. )
Ah…so underwear color and born in a month that ends in a “y” then?….sneaky.
I see what you did there LOL
Within seconds. I visited SW, started escorting the pact bull to Red Rock and got it somewhere after defeating the vines.
Every day of the year there is a rare chance to get an exotic from loot. You’re not entitled to getting a beta portal for grinding anymore than you are entitled to get an exotic drop within x amount of hours.
Yeah I’ve been out in SW for 30h+ (work eats up a lot of time) I haven’t found one, but I just can’t grind anymore. I can’t take it. For my sanity I have to stop and do PvP or map completion.
When you have the timings of the events down to the point that you can tag silver/gold in about 8-12 per 10m, then I think I’ve been out here to long. </rambling>
Did you try Dry Top?
Aren’t people farming Inquest in Dry Top for this or something?
What about only being a subscriber? Do we still got a small chance? I gave up on trying to drop a beta portal, I’m levelling an alt now, so I’m hoping I at least have a chance for having signed up for the newsletter.
Yes, you absolutely do have a chance through your newsletter subscription. Testers will come from the portal drops and from the newsletter subscription list.
Thanks for asking!
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/About-the-Portal-to-Maguuma-s-Heart/first#post5039872
Looks like being a subscriber to the Heart of Thorns newsletter will also get you another chance to get into the Beta!
Been trying for 9 days now.
I’m on my last hope – I’ve re-signed up for the newsletter.
At least 50 hours in Silverwastes from a bonus chest
For those of you that lost hope go sign up for the newsletter. A dev has stated that some testers will come form the newsletter list.
Started on the tuesday night (with the update) and didn’t get one till Sunday, grinded every night after work for a few hours. Found it in dry top in event chest after the ‘escort Haze’ event.
:)
Visited Dry Top 5 days in a row, and at the very last event of the very last day right before I was going to log, I got it from the bonus chest from the Queen skrit event.
I enjoyed the Chicken-nado, an event that most of the time I had to complete myself because it is so remote.