Guild Wars 2

Just came from Hidden Garden and knew I had to come and post here, what magnificent setting. The landscape was amazing, I actually spent some time their just taking screen shots.

The only thing I was disappointed about was how small the puzzles were. I would have loved to have spent more time jumping around that area, exploring more of it.

EDIT: On a side note I really dislike Professor Portmatt’s Lab.

1. Has to be Hidden Garden, it’s just perfect
2. Chaos Crystal Cavern
these two have already received too much praise so I’m gonna skip to the next ones:
3. Shaman’s Rookery
4. Conundrum Cubed
These two are awesome, even though after the Uncategorized Fractal most people will shrug at the cubes, but i loved it, the only shame is that they are too short sadly
5. Antre of Adjournment, the only Orrian puzzle that left an impression, the sheer size of it and the effort (even though most people will say that the effort isn’t rewarded at the end) both the one from the developers’ side and the one it takes the players to complete it is great

In general i would like to see the short ones be a little more challenging ( Under New Management and Grendich Gamble come to mind saying this), and although most would disagree I would love to see more long puzzles, and by this i mean climbing the crazy tall structure in Orr near Caer Shadowfain in Cursed Shore… Every time i pass it I keep imagining the view from up there

In any case great job for making these jumping puzzles to begin with, I can only say I was pleasantly surprised when I managed to find and complete my first one and it made me a “search every nook and cranny” type of player. Praise to all the holiday puzzles as well

Just spent part of my Saturday night and most of my Sunday doing Scavenger’s Chasm for the first time. It was both grueling and awesome.

There were two minor disappointments, though. One was, I made the mistake of opening the first chest last night, but then it got to be too late, so I logged out in the puzzle and finished today. Apparently that prevented me from getting the achievement so I’ll have to do it again. Granted, I’d have done it again anyway, because I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it would have been nice to get the little ‘ding’ after all that work the first time through; the second time will be much easier. The other thing was the chests coughing up nothing but a few blue and green items. I know that’s not the puzzle developer’s responsibility but still, just one more moment that left me scratching my head thinking, “Really? That’s what this game considers loot, huh?”

Anyway, still a great puzzle. I think Goemm’s Lab might still be my favorite, but Scavenger’s Chasm is a contender.

Josh,

As Dulfy, I just want to say thank you for taking the time to talk with us.
By knowing you must have some overtime because of the short windows of releasing more and more content.

Also, I’m a big fan of Guild Wars lore. Sometime during my play time, I just watch the world around me. My first love goes to the Kessex hill map, around the flying castle of the magician. I mean, I haven’t spend so much time in GW1, and by completing Kessex, I was… like “ho wow, a flying castle ?!”, and start to talk to every pnj across the zone, just to know what is this castle. I was so sad I can’t go there :p

I’m not a huge fan of JP, but the one I prefered by far is the one on the Malchor’s map, the one with some funeral thing and a spawning zombie veteran when you open the chest.

It makes me feel that I was really exploring something, and the place I’ve tried so hard to stand on has a story. And that is kittening epic !

Please continue to tell us stories, from the developer’s side, or by your art.

Cheers to you and your team.

Out of curiosity… the “secret” area at the end of Ascalonian Catacombs paths 1 and 3… is that a JP or is this something that was left there???

http://imageshack.us/a/img255/6805/gw013z.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img94/8276/gw015w.jpg

I love Coddler’s Cove to pieces, even though I never managed to get up to the chest. And believe me, I tried for hours over the last few months.

Additional to “poor depth perception” and “disabilities” hindering people participating successfully in jumping puzzles, I would like to add the system setup as a factor. Camera positioning is essential in the challenges. People that can use a normal two- to six-button mouse have better control over the character movement than others with alternate hardware.

I have to use a trackball, and camera positioning in jumping challenges is a painstaking process for me. Once I positioned the camera, I have to use the keyboard to execute the jumps. This is very unwieldy, and tons of kind-of-instinctive jumpers pass me by before I manage to execute even one jump. Sometimes, this makes me feel very stooopid.

Timed jumping challenges or time-constricted stuff like the mad king’s clock tower are not made for me. But I would dearly like to have the chance to do these monsters without the normal constraints – no time limit, and no platforms that vanish under my feet. That also includes other challenges that require fast and sure jumps in quick succession.

Giving me a chest for these “practice opportunities” is not necessary, but a “looser’s acievement” would be nice. Rat King, anyone?

But complaints aside, I have tried every puzzle at least once.

TheaEvanda.5038:

I love Coddler’s Cove to pieces, even though I never managed to get up to the chest. And believe me, I tried for hours over the last few months.

Additional to “poor depth perception” and “disabilities” hindering people participating successfully in jumping puzzles, I would like to add the system setup as a factor. Camera positioning is essential in the challenges. People that can use a normal two- to six-button mouse have better control over the character movement than others with alternate hardware.

I have to use a trackball, and camera positioning in jumping challenges is a painstaking process for me. Once I positioned the camera, I have to use the keyboard to execute the jumps. This is very unwieldy, and tons of kind-of-instinctive jumpers pass me by before I manage to execute even one jump. Sometimes, this makes me feel very stooopid.

Timed jumping challenges or time-constricted stuff like the mad king’s clock tower are not made for me. But I would dearly like to have the chance to do these monsters without the normal constraints – no time limit, and no platforms that vanish under my feet. That also includes other challenges that require fast and sure jumps in quick succession.

Giving me a chest for these “practice opportunities” is not necessary, but a “looser’s acievement” would be nice. Rat King, anyone?

But complaints aside, I have tried every puzzle at least once.

You might consider using sticky buttons on your trackballs right button. I’m not sure how you actually set it up, but I know a friend that has to use a trackball and has his right-click to be pressed until he double clicks it. Since he’s done that, he’s become somewhat of a pro at them. Not sure if that’s an issue for you or not but it helped him out a lot.

I haven’t done a lot of JP’s but I recently did the Skipping Stones one in Southsun Cove and that was pretty cool. I typically hate timed stuff like that because it makes me all jittery but when I made it to the end it was quite rewarding (I actually made it to the last platform before the chest and somehow fell down the first time, that frustrated me to no end). The epicness of it was pretty neat as well.

Just a question though. Does anyone else feel that they need to look up the location of the JP’s in order to do them since most are pretty well-hidden and not that obvious? The only ones I’ve done were the ones connected to a vista which are quite obvious. The Skipping Stones one I looked up the location where you start it. It would be nice if there was a more obvious sign saying something like, “Hey, here’s a jump puzzle!” Or something along those lines.

I know these aren’t intended, but they definitely are jumping challenges.

1st was a pain to get too, involves a lot of jump shotting up and down cliff edges that meant death if you missed or overshot, and a tiny hole you have to jump through(ironically, I the charr made it through on the second try, but my human bud couldn’t do it to save a baby quaggan.)

2nd (3rd picture) wasn’t bad only two jumps were commonly fatal for about 6 deaths total. Took forever though, one jump you have to land on an invisible lip of an edge. But of course, it was definitely worth it. This is on top of Cathedral of Zephyrs I believe.

Both of these are in Malchors Leap and require jump shot(an engineer) or one of its bundle counter-parts from karma vendors.

Josh Foreman.8250:

You crazy kids breaking my maps!!!

The breaking will continue! It will until Cantha is added!

Josh Foreman.8250:

You crazy kids breaking my maps!!!

We’re just testing your secret jumping puzzles. Raine was anticipating Gwens ghost to be on top, I was waiting for Proffessor Yakkington and Nicholas to pop up asking for 10 porous bones(ermagush is that a vampiric dragon sword in taht bag Nick?)
and I was hoping that after we jumped off, hit 80 mph while simutaneously being hit by lightning, we would end up in restored Orr. Don’t need to tell you how that ended.

Lord Aargadon.4135:

Don’t need to tell you how that ended.

…Because we’ll find out in a few years when we see it for ourselves?

the Tribulation duo, if only for the circumstances under which i did them. i know i will most likely never complete the ones with vanishing platforms and it will be a while before i risk my sanity again with Griffonrook

Hidden Garden is definitely one of the most stunning ones

RoyHarmon.5398:

Lord Aargadon.4135:

Don’t need to tell you how that ended.

…Because we’ll find out in a few years when we see it for ourselves?

Nah, we ended up in Orr year 1071AE, found some scrolls, blew up Arah and a Charr invasion. Unfortunately, they didn’t have waypoints back then and everyone was kinda dead, so we had to wait until re-release for someone to res our corpses.

My favourite:
1) Mad King’s Clock Tower
2) Coddler’s Cove
3) Skipping Stones

Josh Foreman.8250:

Iruwen.3164:

Not really a jumping “puzzle”,

I hate the term Jumping Puzzle. It really only applies to about 20% of them. I’ve always called them Jumping Challenges which covers the scope of what they offer.

Levistis.8356:

Also, I hope we’ll get to be our own characters :’(

I anticipated that most people would want to be their characters, and wouldn’t want to lose the look they’ve worked so hard to achieve, so I made sure we would not transform you into something else. Just don’t expect to be your normal size.

Maybe someone already mentioned it somewhere, but I’m sure people would also like to have the option to do it at normal size as they will have grown accustomed to it if it is their main.

Griffin’s Run, i loved how there’s are multiple viable paths, the difficulty it has when you start and slowly learn how everything falls into place.

I like the ones you can do quickly in one go without stopping, like Spekks’s Laboratory and Winter Wonderland, and the ones that have exploration, like the Hidden Garden.

I also like when they have checkpoints or fast respawns, like Goemm’s lab and Spekks’s Laboratory.

I don’t like the annoying ones that are designed to maximize frustration like Mad King’s (the fog starts going up right at the start, catching slow loaders instead waiting for the first platform, collisions do not match the models, lots of objects collide with the camera, making it jump around; I had to do it while looking at the floor most of the time) or Dark Reverie (there should be a pool of water under the trick jumps, since people always fall down there to their deaths).

I also dislike those that do not take into consideration how horribly bad the camera is, like Troll’s End and Skipping Stones. They should add an out-of-combat third person (if they are worried about people trying first person combat), having the camera zooming, flipping, twirling and skipping all over the place makes them impossible.

They should also change the charr running animation so it only walks on all fours under a speed boost greater than +33%. They look silly running in all fours in slow motion, and it’s misleading for jumps. You have to set shadows to minimum and look at the circle under the feet of the charr to make sure where the collision is.

I found one that led me to a lovely spot overlooking a Kodan sanctuary.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Geikamir.6329:

For new JP’s added to the game, would it be possible to add a one-time reward to each one that was unique or themed like the JP? I know that might be a lot to ask, but the general idea of a nice reward for the first run of a JP I think would be really cool.

I would love to do that. But then we have the problem of driving those who hate JPs to do them so they can get the goodies. And we don’t want people to feel like they have to do stuff they hate in the game.

But, but, I feel like I have to do dungeons, and I don’t like them. I’m ok with exclusive rewards for different parts of the game. The only way to avoid this is to remove rewards from everything, as not everyone in the game will play all content (and nobody wants that). Dungeons have LOADS of special goodies, so why not JP’s?

Narcemus.1348:

I hate to point this out, being a person that is in a love/hate relationship with jumping puzzles. It is kinda annoying that two jumping puzzles are required to get world completion (Vizier’s Tower & Great Wall in Diessa). I’m not calling you out to change this, I’ve gotten used to them, but I have friends that have given up on world completion for this reason, their computers are just too terrible on lag to give them the ability to do these puzzles properly. Just food for thought on future creations.

Send your friends to me, I’ll portal them up

My computer doesn’t deal well with jumping puzzles, but I still managed to complete the Breached Wall, so that is my favorite. Anything more difficult – forget it.

My brother and I LOVE JP’s. I’ve finished all of them and re-do them all the time. I’m 3000 miles away from home and because of the time difference I only get to play gw2 with my brother an hour a night through the week, so we do the jumping puzzles together. It’s something fun we can do for an hour and still feel like we’ve accomplished something lol. I hope to see more of them in the future!

JOSH I understand you are responsible for all the jumping.

I hate you.

Since when does jumping have anything to do with MMORPGs for the PC? Jumping seems to be a console type thing to do…like mario bros. or whatever.

I don’t mind the finding the way to get to where I want to to go, I hate those very few jumps that I just plain cant jump far enough or high enough or turn ….. they have ruined an otherwise great game for me and you would be surprised how many quit over the too hard jumps. I realize you don’t really care since all your hardcore twitch buddies can do them. I realize no loss to your company, no monthly fee and you got your $60 bucks, but maybe a little rethink on a few of the individual jumps in some of these jumping quests should be reconsidered.

“Challenge” is only fun if you win.

I like the one in Diessa on the wall. Forget the name, but I just liked it for its simplicity.

Anwar.2018:

JOSH I understand you are responsible for all the jumping.

I hate you.

Since when does jumping have anything to do with MMORPGs for the PC? Jumping seems to be a console type thing to do…like mario bros. or whatever.

I don’t mind the finding the way to get to where I want to to go, I hate those very few jumps that I just plain cant jump far enough or high enough or turn ….. they have ruined an otherwise great game for me and you would be surprised how many quit over the too hard jumps. I realize you don’t really care since all your hardcore twitch buddies can do them. I realize no loss to your company, no monthly fee and you got your $60 bucks, but maybe a little rethink on a few of the individual jumps in some of these jumping quests should be reconsidered.

“Challenge” is only fun if you win.

I feel your frustration but I think in theory the puzzles are a great addition to the PvE game – something to do which isn’t just killing dumb creatures. I love the tension of lining yourself up for a long jump over a large drop – really engaging.

The problem is the engine and the controls. Josh’s puzzles – even the Mad King Clocktower – would be great in a slick platformer, but in GW2 you have to deal with the skittish camera, the weird delay on the jump key, invisible barriers, your character getting caught on a tiny bit of rock, and other players jumping through and around you. Completely ruined Clocktower for me, and makes some of the others frustrating when they should be at their most enjoyable.

Overall my favorite is The Obsidian Sanctum. It’s by far the biggest, longest jump puzzle in the game and the scope of it is just awesome. I thoroughly enjoy running it from time to time. However, I’m not very good at PvP. (Ok, I admit it. I’m downright lousy at PvP) so I usually only attempt to run it if we own all 3 keeps.

Next, I’d have to say I enjoy the Hidden Garden. The area really is gorgeous and you get some nice views up on top of the cliffs.

I love Hidden Garden, the split tasks to get it solved and the overall environment AND requirement to start all mixed up, it’s just awesome!

Mt Maelstrom by far my favorite, not super taxing but worth doing, just for the views..

Hirathi hinterlands was good loved the pirate ship…

Any jump puzzle that you explore and stumble upon are my fav, doesn’t have to be hard, just the exploration is great…

I hated the bloodtide one it was horrible..

On a side not Jump puzzles loot needs to goto Rares upwards these things are really hard and deserve a reward vs risk required and the hours it takes..

Edit..
Anything with a time limit at the beginning, i actively ignore, completely, just a heads up..

did somebody say breaking maps? I may decide to roll an engi just to be able to use jump shot to get places. I love the high cliffs you guys have made, and really wanted to explore more.

my favorite jumping puzzle would be the mad king clock tower.

As someone who has completed all the JP achievements, I absolutely hated the Mad kings clocktower but loved the wintersday puzzle.

Also the one with the baby quaggans was funny ^^

If there was a “save” button, or a way to retry close to where there was a failed jump, jumping would be great…otherwise, some are simply close to impossible and eat up too much time and the opposite of fun. The world has frustration enough.

Challenge is only fun if you win.

Please don’t tell me the guild jumping puzzle was the amazing piece of work you were working on!! I was hoping for something more.. soloable.

I like jumping puzzles where the jumping is hard, but where I don’t have to search where to go. So Mad King’s Clocktower and Skipping Stones were pretty awesome

Lafiel.9372:

Please don’t tell me the guild jumping puzzle was the amazing piece of work you were working on!! I was hoping for something more.. soloable.

I’d also like to know this. Is this JP coming out in a future patch or was it related to one of the Guild Puzzles?

Are you going to introduce the new jumping puzzle in the next 2 patches?

Hey Josh, any news on how the Mother of All Jumping Puzzles is coming along?

The eternal battlegrounds JP. I love and hate it at the same time. You need to watch your surroundings so you don’t get ganked but at the same time, it is really dumb how sometimes you find like 20+ players camping the chest. I don’t care about players camping the JP entrance, but camping at the very end is just frustrating.

Josh i got a fever and the only cure is a new mother of all jp’s you hyped up a month ago (unless it isn’t the guild puzzle). But i have to wait another 2-3 months before “hopefully” unlocking it. Someone summon a timelord and fix this terrible wait time.

The EB puzzle could probably benefit from more than 1 possible path to the top (would help with the ganking). Also, there’s a few jumps that cannot be made in combat, even with swiftness. Most notably the arena.

But I do love it…it’s actually the only place where 3 dimensional PvP takes place, and where the terrain plays a part. And that’s very cool. Would love to see a battleground map using terrain as extensively as the puzzle does.

I only do JPs with a Mesmer who provides a porting service.

If the camera was half descent (designed for this) I might enjoy JPs and actually do them. As it is the camera zooming in and out uncontrollably is ridiculous.

People complain about laurels and ascended gear being gated content… what about everything at the end of jumping puzzles?

I’ve given up. I can barely do trolls end.

These jumping puzzles are like a rotten spot on a piece of delicious fruit. =(

If you can’t do jumping puzzles then you don’t deserve the rewards.

Vol.5241:

If you can’t do jumping puzzles then you don’t deserve the rewards.

I guess a ton of people don’t deserve ascended gear and laurels then… gated content INDEED.

ophidic.1279:

Vol.5241:

If you can’t do jumping puzzles then you don’t deserve the rewards.

I guess a ton of people don’t deserve ascended gear and laurels then… gated content INDEED.

It’s gated by your own lack of skill nothing else. He’s right when you can’t get to the end than you don’t deserve the reward.

Conner.4702:

ophidic.1279:

Vol.5241:

If you can’t do jumping puzzles then you don’t deserve the rewards.

I guess a ton of people don’t deserve ascended gear and laurels then… gated content INDEED.

It’s gated by your own lack of skill nothing else. He’s right when you can’t get to the end than you don’t deserve the reward.

Just like how laurels and ascended gear are gated by people’s patience and skill at the ACTUAL game, not some super mario brothers diversion that has literally nothing to do with guild wars.

They could, at the VERY LEAST, fix this awkward camera that bounces around and zooms in an out as it hits the walls of the tiny confined spaces a lot of these puzzles are in.

Make it a bit more rubbery, or for gods sake give us a few more options for camera control… at least bring back first person view.

bookman.9260:

did somebody say breaking maps? I may decide to roll an engi just to be able to use jump shot to get places. I love the high cliffs you guys have made, and really wanted to explore more.

I used to bypass map boundries out of boredom, in some cases I’d just be jumping a bit and before I realised I was in places not intended to be reached.

Name one map or one specific area in a map and I most likely walked out of it at some point, or would be able to without much effort, without the use of fancy leap abilities (although they can be very useful).

I’d say the three Orr zones are probably easiest to climb out, I’ve jumped every building, every map edge, and several more places in just Cursed Shore alone, simply running around looking for Ori nodes back in the day (then getting distracted or bored and proceeding to jump on rocks).

I do this is all games, I got this weird dedication to reaching places developers didn’t think players would reach. I report each of those locations... Sadly they aren’t as creative as I am in reaching them, using cheap invisible walls to block off areas rather than creativity.

I recently revisited some of the area’s I managed to enter around launch, I reported them then, but you can still acces them today.

Anyway, I’d like more jumping puzzles, it’s the only properly unique PvE element GW2 has compared to most MMO’s. I get working on big jumping challenges takes a solid amount of time, but I certainly don’t mind seeing regular additions of smaller ones, rather than a big one every few months.