The Mad King’s Clock Tower is a Halloween jump puzzle with a uncanny ability to weed out those without the nerve, reflexes, and spatial awareness to complete it early. It is a cause of much frustration to even those who can master it, and sometimes even called the ‘bane of the [GW2 player community]’. So i’ll put together this list. In reality, this list, the GW2W guide, or even Youtube won’t do much to prepare you, but i will put whatever practical advice and tips i can here.
Start
This part starts off simple. Run up to the dead end, but don’t take unnecessary risks. This isn’t a race… yet. From the earliest you can get up there (without speed boosts) the tower (or rather, everyone and the puzzle itself) will revolve 1 and a half times (3 passings of the Mad King insignia, so be ready at 2 and 1/2) before exploding, laying out the path.
First Chest
Streightfoward jumping. If you have a lot of trouble with this bit, you really should rethink this endevour.
Second Chest
The path is streightfoward. The jumps are not. If you watch Youtube, or read wiki (both reccomended despite my earlier statements), you should focus your attention on this portion. At the top, there will be two beams forked, make a leap of faith from the right to land on the platform with the third chest. KEEP MOVING! the goo will be less then 3 seconds behind you. scamper up the next few pieces vary fast, then take a breather and continue with a bit more control.
Moderetly after the Third Chest
Keep moving forward, take the right path, and jump carefully. at the top of the stairs, you will be revolving around the clock tower’s face. Wait for it to jump open. Really, i don’t have much advice for this bit, and it requires (gastp) * trial and error*.
End Chest
Tips
There are three hard parts in this dungeon. the first is right at the beginning, after the clock tower explodes the path. You need to make these next few jumps as fluidly as possible, with minimal wasted time. Even a small snag can make the puzzle impossible later at the third chest. IF you snag, content yourself with the second (or first) chest, and try not to mess up next time. The second hard part is moderetly after the second chest, a beam, which jumps to a cube which jumps to another beam. This is the hardest jump in the puzzle, but don’t take too long or the goo will reach the third chest before you do! The third hard part is the upturned half-gear shortly after the third chest. It is more slippery (metaphorically speaking) then any other narrow beam in this jumping puzzle, except possible the one involved in the second named hard jump. proceed with caution, but hurry!
Opening the chests requires time, but this time is different then you might expect. The first chest requires a long time to loot, the second a moderate amount. It will probably take more time to decide to loot the third chest and run to and away then to loot it itself, as long as you mash F. Looting the third chest improperly is a quick path to defeat, but it can substantially boost your rewards if you can do it right. Keep in mind that the chests have a cooldown/recharge time, around a few minutes. Rebinding G helps a LOT when looting the third chest.
Try running with a Asura. If there are no Norn or Charr, or they get killed early on, you should probably have a bit more success. Keep in mind this tip focuses more upon spatial awareness then character awareness, the ides is eventually (after around a half hour of trial and error) the character awareness in this puzzle will gradually become more instinctive. Also worth noting, this usually boosts your odds of surviving by at least 40% when a Charr or Norn blocks your view of a jump compleatly. Still, 40% isn’t always the best odds, especially when you tempt fate multiple times a run. Still pray that the big loafs get eliminated early on. Mad King Thorn listens to the hate prayers of his faithful.
Rewards
The First chest awards a few (1-3) bags.
The second chest awards more bags (3-5)
The Third chest awards even more bags. (5-8)
First completion will net you two store tonics and a un-transmutable, un-salvageable lv80 traveler’s footwear approperate to your class. It will come with a superior rune of the mad king. You also get a 10 point achievement.
Subsequent completions award a great many bags. (8-12)
Keep in mind the ToT rate is a estimation
Tick Tock, The mouse ran up the clock. Then time swallowed it whole, tail and all!
Note: I will continuously edit to fix spelling and grammar errors as i find them.
Edit: Added descriptions of second 2 hard jumps.
(edited by Iarkrad.8415)