Guild Wars 2

So I got one of these to drop last night and I am trying to think of what this is good for?

In the context of:

1. I only do PvE
2. I don’t do Dungeons or Fractals

Now I can see some use for WvW(which it can Not be used for) but outside of helping people up Jumping Puzzles what is its contributing benefit to the game?

I have a L80 Mesmer and in 11 months, have never used the Portal skill.

With its prohibitively expensive cost of crafting for a one time use item; I am just not able to wrap my head around this one.

I can speculate that ANet has a plan for its use for some future content release but until then…

So could someone please enlighten me of what use is the Watchwork Portal Device in PvE Open World?
And statements like “It isn’t!” is not the kind of help I was looking for
[Edited for clarity, Open World not Dungeons]

If you havent used portal before you havent been dungeoneering much.

One use I see is for thiefs, they now dont have to rely on mesmers jumping skills to get a group passed some annoying harpies…

I use portal in pve all the time. things like map completion. drop a portal, run to an out-of-the-way poi, portal back. only saves like 30 seconds of running, but if you do that 120 times, that’s an hour shorter. Also to help other people get to hard-to-reach places, or kiting mobs away from a place of power, or having fun with other players (I like to drop a portal to the LA bank’s roof every now and then, or the thaumanova reactor’s roof)
it’s because you haven’t used it that you don’t know what it can be used for.

I’m not sure the cost of crafting is worth it for the sort of recreational uses you mentioned…although I know there are people who make a lot more money than I do. In terms of the Mesmer portal though those are some of the fun uses for it – it’s a skill that rewards creativity and its a lot of fun to play around with.

In terms of the new item, I too am having trouble seeing a point to it. Unless you have money just burning a hole in your pocket, I don’t think it serves a purpose.

Agreed about the Mesmer Portal but the question was what is the intended use of the expensive to craft single use Portal?

• In your context making 120 of them to cut an hour off a map area seems cost prohibitive.
• Helping people to get to hard to reach places I can see as in my Jumping Puzzle statement.
• Kiting mobs away from places of power with a portal? As I have never used one, this idea interests me. Would be curious in the mechanics on this one since I would have thought porting away would break agro. Please elaborate.
• As for spending that kind of investment to pop people on the roof for fun… seems like an expensive joke. I think I am too poor for that one.

I think that the idea is that it’s a prestige item/skill. They’re not supposed to be used save by those that are showing off.

The OTHER reason they’re there and so expensive is so we can surprise the Devs with them. Any MMO Developer with any experience on a live game has seen something they thought was “harmless” suddenly turn into a broken nightmare in the hands of players. They made it expensive, now they’re waiting to see what we find that cost justifies the use of it.

rfdarko.4639:

I’m not sure the cost of crafting is worth it for the sort of recreational uses you mentioned…although I know there are people who make a lot more money than I do. In terms of the Mesmer portal though those are some of the fun uses for it – it’s a skill that rewards creativity and its a lot of fun to play around with.

In terms of the new item, I too am having trouble seeing a point to it. Unless you have money just burning a hole in your pocket, I don’t think it serves a purpose.

Just FYI, it does drop pre-crafted(got one last night) but its account bound. I agree that the recipe is too expensive for the utility.

It’s also helpful in jumping puzzles, where you could drop the one before a jump, as opposed to just dropping one at the end to get other people up.

oh, I agree: it costs wayyyyyy too much to be of any conceivable use. around 20s/use or less would be useful. as is, it’s just something to complain about. I was just giving examples of what to use mesmer portal for.
kiting away from places of power: run up to the place, drop portal enter, get aggro from everything, run away, drop portal exit, go through portal, commune, go through portal, run away. not always needed, but it’s handy to have several options available to you.
thought of more: wvw surprise group attacks, wvw golem movement, wvw recapturing a tower, wvw/pvp safety (drop a portal, run a short ways to an enemy, fight them, if the battle isn’t going so well, portal out of there – similar to how thieves just disappear)

Mystic.5934:

kiting away from places of power: run up to the place, drop portal enter, get aggro from everything, run away, drop portal exit, go through portal, commune, go through portal, run away.

Interesting tactic. Certainly well worth trying on my Mesmer. I can see a use for Watchwork Portal for Non-Mesmers in this case if they are stuck on one of those ‘try over and over’ points just to get past it if you are solo. I would think that having someone pull Agro for you would be easier and cheaper but maybe that is not an option.

In reference to your WvW ideas, according to Wiki, “This item is not useable in WvW”.

Solo.9027:

Just FYI, it does drop pre-crafted(got one last night) but its account bound. I agree that the recipe is too expensive for the utility.

So the Watchwork Portal drops in open world, not just the Recipe eh? Ok, sure, free drop I can see for multiple uses as described by those above.

Palador.2170:

The OTHER reason they’re there and so expensive is so we can surprise the Devs with them. Any MMO Developer with any experience on a live game has seen something they thought was “harmless” suddenly turn into a broken nightmare in the hands of players. They made it expensive, now they’re waiting to see what we find that cost justifies the use of it.

So they might be using us a Feature test guinea pig? I guess that is possible but as an Alpha/Beta tester myself, I would think it counter productive to insert a feature for testing but then make it cost prohibitive to use. Now my testing is NOT in the Gaming industry, so maybe things are different there.

Yalora Istairiea.6287:

Palador.2170:

The OTHER reason they’re there and so expensive is so we can surprise the Devs with them. Any MMO Developer with any experience on a live game has seen something they thought was “harmless” suddenly turn into a broken nightmare in the hands of players. They made it expensive, now they’re waiting to see what we find that cost justifies the use of it.

So they might be using us a Feature test guinea pig? I guess that is possible but as an Alpha/Beta tester myself, I would think it counter productive to insert a feature for testing but then make it cost prohibitive to use. Now my testing is NOT in the Gaming industry, so maybe things are different there.

I think the key here isn’t that they’re having us test it for them (in which case making it too expensive would keep us from testing it), but that they know there will be some unexpected use that makes it far more powerful than they ever imagined. Assuming they want to put it in the game anyway (motive unknown), they made it cost-prohibitive so that either people wouldn’t want to play around with it enough to find that unexpected use, or having found it, we may not see it as lucrative enough to justify the cost of repeating it.

Same skill has been in the game since launch. I honestly don’t see what new we could come up with it.

My guild uses portals all the time in the Guild Puzzle mission to get everybody where they need to be. We also use it in open PvE for jumping puzzle assistance and general Vista assistance. Granted we usually have an ample supply of mesmers to do this, but a few people with the portal item ensures we don’t actually need one for those harder moments.

Wethospu.6437:

Same skill has been in the game since launch. I honestly don’t see what new we could come up with it.

I don’t know, either, but perhaps it has something to do with the portal being used by non-mesmers. I don’t know if there are any strange interactions between portals and shadowsteps, for example, or maybe Vengeance interacts weirdly with it.

I haven’t used one yet, so I’m just assuming this doesn’t work exactly like a utility skill slot normally would. The point is that I can’t think of all possible uses/interactions, you probably can’t either, and maybe the developers also realize that they can’t think of them all. But give it to 3 million(ish) monkeys on keyboards, and one of them will craft the next game-breaking exploit. Unless they’re prohibitively expensive, in which case only a handful of the monkeys will ever use them. And the odds of one of that handful of monkeys finding something sufficiently overpowered to justify the ingredient cost? Relatively slim.

However, the biggest gaping hole in this theory that I see: If they’re so scared of an exploit, why put them in there at all? If they cost so much, they’re not going to be used legitimately. So if they’re used at all, it would only be by those who are abusing the system. Right?

Unless I’m missing something, of course—which I suppose is the point of this thread.

RoyHarmon.5398:

Wethospu.6437:

Same skill has been in the game since launch. I honestly don’t see what new we could come up with it.

I don’t know, either, but perhaps it has something to do with the portal being used by non-mesmers. I don’t know if there are any strange interactions between portals and shadowsteps, for example, or maybe Vengeance interacts weirdly with it.

I haven’t used one yet, so I’m just assuming this doesn’t work exactly like a utility skill slot normally would. The point is that I can’t think of all possible uses/interactions, you probably can’t either, and maybe the developers also realize that they can’t think of them all. But give it to 3 million(ish) monkeys on keyboards, and one of them will craft the next game-breaking exploit. Unless they’re prohibitively expensive, in which case only a handful of the monkeys will ever use them. And the odds of one of that handful of monkeys finding something sufficiently overpowered to justify the ingredient cost? Relatively slim.

However, the biggest gaping hole in this theory that I see: If they’re so scared of an exploit, why put them in there at all? If they cost so much, they’re not going to be used legitimately. So if they’re used at all, it would only be by those who are abusing the system. Right?

Unless I’m missing something, of course—which I suppose is the point of this thread.

Yeah Roy, I was thinking along the same line. The concern might have something to do with the portal being used by non-mesmers skill interaction. But if they had a concern with that issue, I would then question what CTQ’s(Critical To Quality) items would have sparked the desire to put it into game in the first place? I don’t recall seeing a lot of Forum whining about it being “unfair that a Mes can port and my profession can’t”.

I have not seen the mechanics of its usage yet either. If it gives options that the Mes Portal does NOT have, then I think we might have our answer.

Anet, PLEASE do not make this a trend. I quit WoW years ago when they started neutering classes by making unique class abilities available to everyone. Portal entre was a large part of the reason why I made a mesmer in the first place… to help my jumping-challenged friends reach places that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to go. You have just made the effort I put into levelling that character worthless. Who were the heroes of Southsun? Mesmers. Everyone wanted a Mesmer as a friend. …Sorry, Mesmers, nobody needs you anymore.

Fixxit.9185:

Anet, PLEASE do not make this a trend. I quit WoW years ago when they started neutering classes by making unique class abilities available to everyone. Portal entre was a large part of the reason why I made a mesmer in the first place… to help my jumping-challenged friends reach places that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to go. You have just made the effort I put into levelling that character worthless. Who were the heroes of Southsun? Mesmers. Everyone wanted a Mesmer as a friend. …Sorry, Mesmers, nobody needs you anymore.

Only if everyone is content to pay 5 gold or more to put down two portals. The portal device is so stupidly expensive to craft that it’s cheaper in the long run to just make a mesmer.

There is a reason why the recipe sells for 8c on the TP. Nobody wants to spend that much on a single use item. Wasn’t there a prototype portal gun that did pretty much the same thing and cost almost nothing?

Quarktastic.1027:

Fixxit.9185:

Anet, PLEASE do not make this a trend. I quit WoW years ago when they started neutering classes by making unique class abilities available to everyone. Portal entre was a large part of the reason why I made a mesmer in the first place… to help my jumping-challenged friends reach places that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to go. You have just made the effort I put into levelling that character worthless. Who were the heroes of Southsun? Mesmers. Everyone wanted a Mesmer as a friend. …Sorry, Mesmers, nobody needs you anymore.

Only if everyone is content to pay 5 gold or more to put down two portals. The portal device is so stupidly expensive to craft that it’s cheaper in the long run to just make a mesmer.

Wonderful. So cheapening this profession is a pun as well.

Fixxit.9185:

Quarktastic.1027:

Fixxit.9185:

Anet, PLEASE do not make this a trend. I quit WoW years ago when they started neutering classes by making unique class abilities available to everyone. Portal entre was a large part of the reason why I made a mesmer in the first place… to help my jumping-challenged friends reach places that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to go. You have just made the effort I put into levelling that character worthless. Who were the heroes of Southsun? Mesmers. Everyone wanted a Mesmer as a friend. …Sorry, Mesmers, nobody needs you anymore.

Only if everyone is content to pay 5 gold or more to put down two portals. The portal device is so stupidly expensive to craft that it’s cheaper in the long run to just make a mesmer.

Wonderful. So cheapening this profession is a pun as well.

Now you’re just complaining for the sake of complaining.

The recipes are worthless for a reason. It’s because no one wants to craft the product.

isn’t it like 8 gold a pop to craft one of these, yeah that is a stupid pricing for a consumable..

Julie Yann.5379:

There is a reason why the recipe sells for 8c on the TP. Nobody wants to spend that much on a single use item. Wasn’t there a prototype portal gun that did pretty much the same thing and cost almost nothing?

It costs almost nothing because it does almost nothing. It “teleports” you a very short distance in some direction, but I haven’t figured out how to make it useful yet (I think I still have 4 or 5 of them in my inventory).

Do they work in WvW? maybe a perma-stealth Thief could sit in a fort and drop a portal-zerg-bomb after 20 mins? Not too sure, I don’t have a Thief. I’m sure people will mix it with the attributes of other professions though in ways that were not expected.

I mean, less than 20(?) testers?, against the experimenting ability of a 1million+(?) player base?

RoyHarmon.5398:

Julie Yann.5379:

There is a reason why the recipe sells for 8c on the TP. Nobody wants to spend that much on a single use item. Wasn’t there a prototype portal gun that did pretty much the same thing and cost almost nothing?

It costs almost nothing because it does almost nothing. It “teleports” you a very short distance in some direction, but I haven’t figured out how to make it useful yet (I think I still have 4 or 5 of them in my inventory).

I was wondering how good it was, I remember partying with a guy that used it to portal people that couldn’t make it up the cliff when we used to take shortcuts in CM. That’s why I mentioned it.

The question is not “what is this recipe good for?”, but rather “what are the next fifty copies of this recipe good for, once you’ve already got one?”

They’re down to a few coppers on the trading post now, aren’t they?

Banquetto.9521:

The question is not “what is this recipe good for?”, but rather “what are the next fifty copies of this recipe good for, once you’ve already got one?”

They’re down to a few coppers on the trading post now, aren’t they?

If we aren’t willing to pay that amount of gold(mats) to craft a single use portal then the recipe is pretty much useless and good for nothing.

aeneq.1760:

If you havent used portal before you havent been dungeoneering much.

One use I see is for thiefs, they now dont have to rely on mesmers jumping skills to get a group passed some annoying harpies…

Yeah, they just have to spend like 3+ Gold on a single use item <_<
Also, ironically I had one drop in WvW.

Over the weekend, I dusted off my Mesmer, hopped to the top of a JP and advertised in Map chat I was portaling people to the chest. I got a bunch of takers over the next half an hour. Most of the time that I was not portaling, was spent talking to the people I brought up and it was quite the socially pleasant experience. Only one person didn’t say at least “TY” out of everyone I helped. I did not accept any tips, thou some were offered.

I bring this to light in this thread because as I said in my OP, I had never used Portal before on my Mes. Now, I can reiterate that the Watchwork Potal would have some use in JP’s but…
Over a half an hour of portaling, I must have opened 10 portals. So applying this logic to the Watchwork Portal, that would add up to a LOT of money crafting 10 of them.

So after reading the previous posts above, this is what I conclude so far.

1. Can’t be used in WvW
2. Has some limited use in Dungeons and Fractals
3. Is cost prohibitive for Jumping Puzzles, except maybe one use if no Mes is available
4. The Recipe price on the TP is all the way down to Black Lion Chest Level

Has anyone found any other uses we have not touched on yet?