Guild Wars 2

I play a rather short asura female, and to be honest, it was rather difficult to spot myself in the miasma of giant bodies, but I started taking notice of ways to make everything visible.

First off, I’m running around in purple and gold, easy as heck to spot.

Second, taking a few steps back will allow you to get a running start, so as soon as you see that little wheel pop out of the wall, run and jump to where it will be and you’ll get ahead.

Third, after that little rock jump near the first chest, at least 80% of the players will be done, and after the leap of faith down to the second chest, you’ll be lucky to see someone other than yourself.

Finally, practice and learn better routes. People like jumping to the railing near the first chest and then leaping to the cog, but you can jump from one rock to the next and skip that beam all together, which means no more getting screwed on half an inch platforming.

As a suggestion, as the other players to hide their spaulders and helms, this’ll reduce the clutter quite a bit believe it or not.

Wendigo.7931:

BlackToof.8710:

C
I have found this Jumping Puzzle to be the best in the game!
It’s the only one I’ve encountered that has an emphasis on speed which I thoroughly enjoyed.

You should try Spekk’s Lab and the optional part of Griffonrook Run.

The sad part is that I had little difficulty with Spekk’s Laboratory – it’s a jumping puzzle, not merely a badly-designed race against time with a room full of folks.

Spekk’s Lab allows multiple restarts at your last good “save point”, so you don’t lose ground. It allows you time to examine each portion of the puzzle, figure out what’s optimal, and then go ahead & do it – and doesn’t punish you too badly for failing.

Spekk’s Lab was a challenge, but one that could be enjoyed – I liked Spekk’s Lab. The clock tower? Not so much.

coffeeisyum.5297:

Cyric.7485:

Vistal.2906:

4 hours to just do some lame kitten jumping.. Not worth the time..

I don’t know what is more shocking, the high rate of failure or the amount of time some people sat solely at this puzzle.

So, what should they be doing instead than spending all the time doing the puzzle? Please enlighten me. Should we be running dungeons? Should we be grinding in the Labyrinth? I was more than happy to spend my entire night partying with others who were attempting the jumping puzzle. I’ve completed it but I plan on going back tonight because I had so much fun.

Well, since you asked:

• Lunatic Inquisition
• Mad King’s Labyrinth
• Reaper’s Rumble
• WvW
• Crafting
• Farming
• Running other, simpler jumping puzzles
• Dungeons
• Traditional sPvP
• Exploration
• RP (if that’s your thing)
• Play the TP

The list goes on and on. My response to Vistol.2906 was not meant to incite some kind of rage, it simply seems like an unhealthy amount of time to focus on the single thing without a break. People often don’t realize that if you run yourself ragged on something, it’s likely you’re going to actually get worse at it. You need to take a break to allow your mind to digest what it’s trying to absorb.

Whiskey Sam.6903:

What will make you hate them more is when they start griefing people deliberately trying to keep them from seeing the jumps then laughing about how people aren’t able to finish.

I’ve been surprised over how easy it’s been for others to grief players ever since the game opened its virtual doors. Speed boosts applied mid-jump to other players on jumping puzzles, fear abilities used to run players off obstacles, pushback abilities used to make NPCs inaccessible to all other players on a server, and so on – the clock tower already has folks griefing it, too.

ArenaNet needs a “black hat” tester.

4+h spent there. I only saw 1st chest 2 times. Both of them he already was in goo.
I gave up. The most stupid holiday event I see in games so far.

Taurethion.7302:

The dev who did the puzzle has stated it was intended only 5% of players finish, so I can’t help but think having to do it with other players is supposed to be part of the difficulty.

Seriously? Wow… Well I’m not going anywhere near it so that should please him.

AveryFarman.2973:

The sad part is that I had little difficulty with Spekk’s Laboratory – it’s a jumping puzzle, not merely a badly-designed race against time with a room full of folks.

The clock tower is not much different from Spekk’s Lab except for the lack of save points. Otherwise, you can study the course (look at the tower when waiting for the next run: that’s not random debris circling it) and the course does try to trick you and offers a few shortcuts to shave needed tenths of a second off your runs. Of course, once you know these things, it becomes a task like any other, but the same can be said for all the other jumping puzzles in the game with the possible exception of Portmatt’s Lab (and that only slightly).

Whiskey Sam.6903:

What will make you hate them more is when they start griefing people deliberately trying to keep them from seeing the jumps then laughing about how people aren’t able to finish.

This gentleman:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l625/kakunobuddha/gw465.jpg

7 page forum thread on Clock Tower. Conclusion: design fail.

Well this game is very casual and attracts a large casual audience. The puzzle actually takes a little bit of skill. It isn’t hard to the point to where I called it challenging or elite, but it seems most of the casual players are just too bad at puzzles and come on the forums to complain about it not being easy. If it was easy, we wouldn’t get a free exotic.

Caelib.2497:

7 page forum thread on Clock Tower. Conclusion: design fail.

Conclusion: To many whinners wanting things handed ot them on silver platter

God such whiners.

What happened to people taking responsibility for their own inability to do something, instead of trying a few times and giving up claiming that it’s obviously someone else’s fault/sun was in their eyes/bad design decision.

This is getting ridiculous. Every day it’s something new, new complaints with people demanding Arenanet custom tailor every little thing to “make it right.”

It’s intended to be difficult content, alright? Not everyone is equal. Some players are better than others; it doesn’t mean that you get everything turned into a snoozefest because you refuse to take on a challenge.

The camera issue is the least of your problems. If you can’t focus on the center of your screen to know where you are, even without seeing your model, it means you’re one of those slow, hesitant jumpers. You wouldn’t be able to finish it anyway. The first part and then the second part have zero time to waste. If you can’t hold forward key the entire time while jumping then you need to practice that before anything else.

And if you’re someone who keyboard turns then forget it, you’ll never make it.

I mean come on. Not everyone deserves everything, no matter how much they think they might.

Just blown away by the sense of entitlement, and the stuck-up faux-insulted attitude everyone is getting over the puzzle creator saying that it was supposed to be difficult. Oh my god, seriously? I can’t believe him! the nerve! how dare he!

Ok, any normally thinking person isn’t gonna say that we want exotics with 0 efforts…. We all like abit of a challange sometimes. But there must be limits…
I agree with the Norn and Charr problem blocking view. And for those who say it’s our own fault because we can’t make the right jump, just because you succeeded doesn’t mean there is no issues with the event.
I really don’t see it possible with ~10 people following and blocking your view. Please fix this…

jumping puzzle is fine… excellent one…

just try to learn the path, and be quick…

after all- it is not supposed that everything in the game can be obtainable by everyone… people who are working hard, will always have little bit more , or get quicker some achievements/loot/items/whatever then others…

It does seem like something that wasn’t tested with more than a handful of people at once before it was rolled out.

Considering internet latency and other players….it’s a little excessive.

What might seems challenging on a private server with 0 latency becomes an entirely different matter in an online environment with a dozen players and an average 100ms.

I also doubt the designers tested it with all the available races.

nope it was fun i spent an hour doing it then even did it on my other 5 chars… people like you just cant enjoy a good puzzle and want everything on a plate

People cry because jumping puzzles are too easy. People then whine it’s too hard.

I had fun , i agree with you that it may be hard for a casual , but for me it was right on the mark.

So i did it on 6 of my chars for now , maybe i will do on my other chars later.

SolarNova.1052:

Caelib.2497:

7 page forum thread on Clock Tower. Conclusion: design fail.

Conclusion: To many whinners wanting things handed ot them on silver platter

Nope. People want to be able to participate in SPECIAL EVENT content without spending their entire weekend trying to complete one activity.

Sometime next week I plan to hunker down and really make a go of it. I’m just…terrible at jumping puzzles in this game. Terrible, and the fact that you have to do this one fast is just so hard for me to do. I feel like a total ’ kitten when I play that thing.

Caelib.2497:

SolarNova.1052:

Caelib.2497:

7 page forum thread on Clock Tower. Conclusion: design fail.

Conclusion: To many whinners wanting things handed ot them on silver platter

Nope. People want to be able to participate in SPECIAL EVENT content without spending their entire weekend trying to complete one activity.

Sometimes the fair comes to town. Some people don’t like rollercoasters. They usually don’t ride them.

I like…can’ turn in mid air. I have to land and turn like a kitten I watched some videos of people doing it online and it seems like they have the pathing memorized…which scares me how many times it probably took them to get like that.

I’ve gotten to the point where I’m not falling, but I’m just not fast enough. That beginning part with the rubble is the hardest part of the whole thing…it’s like designed ti discourage and frustrate people!

I have not beaten the tower yet, and I’m not sure I will before the event is over (but I will try some more for sure). The way I see it, this IS hard but that’s fine. There should be challenges there for the skilled players, and the rewards should be… well, rewarding. If it was EASY then there would likely be a crap reward and a large group of people would whine that it wasn’t even worth doing.

It’s just a themed event. If you don’t succeed it’s not a tragedy.

Here’s your chance to prove you are better than the rest Arena Net.

You mean lowering the bar like every other MMO dev because a vocal minority screamed and cried when they couldn’t complete a challenging section of the game?

Arenanet, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed working through the Clock Tower. It was infuriating, yes, but slowly learning each part and eventually reaching that room at the top was IMMENSELY satisfying. Especially since I was a large, hulking charr.

So kudos to you. You did good with this one. Don’t ever change it.

Has anyone posted this video yet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eCzRcwXJE8

I think you all should watch it and rethink your position on bodyblocking.

Chrollo.2173:

I like…can’ turn in mid air. I have to land and turn like a kitten I watched some videos of people doing it online and it seems like they have the pathing memorized…which scares me how many times it probably took them to get like that.

I’ve gotten to the point where I’m not falling, but I’m just not fast enough. That beginning part with the rubble is the hardest part of the whole thing…it’s like designed ti discourage and frustrate people!

As others have posted, the designer apparently only wanted 1 in 20 players to actually complete it. It is, in fact, specifically designed to discourage and frustrate 19 out of 20 players.

-Why- the designer thought that was a good idea for a limited-time special event, however, is a different and more puzzling question.

AveryFarman.2973:

Chrollo.2173:

I like…can’ turn in mid air. I have to land and turn like a kitten I watched some videos of people doing it online and it seems like they have the pathing memorized…which scares me how many times it probably took them to get like that.

I’ve gotten to the point where I’m not falling, but I’m just not fast enough. That beginning part with the rubble is the hardest part of the whole thing…it’s like designed ti discourage and frustrate people!

As others have posted, the designer apparently only wanted 1 in 20 players to actually complete it. It is, in fact, specifically designed to discourage and frustrate 19 out of 20 players.

-Why- the designer thought that was a good idea for a limited-time special event, however, is a different and more puzzling question.

I would assume to help capture the flavor of the Mad King. After all he is a raving psychopath who revels in the misfortune and despair of his subjects. And bad jokes.

DemonNinja.1602:

1. Make it a solo instance so players can see and not have to deal with 15 other Norn and Charr models.

This so much!
It simply sucks if you cannot see your own character and have to jump blindly.

I love the Mad King’s Clocktower. It’s brutal, it’s evil, it’s such a delicious but fair challenge. I also really love the music, so I recorded to to mp3. My compliments to the designers for making such a well crafted, well balanced, and technically quite complex challenge. It took me hours of practice, but this morning I was able to complete it three times in a row without any errors. That moment when you conquer a platform challenge and know it inside out feels very rewarding.

So, how about a Clocktower hard mode?

I have 3 hrs into the clock tower puzzle which I consider substantial “effort”.

At this point I haven’t quite made it to the first set of stairs after the beginning steps. I almost made the jump twice, but was eaten by green bile or missed.

At this rate, I think I may get the entire tower in 6 hrs. That’s too much investment for a holiday puzzle.

One thing that would help is slowing the rising green bile. The jumps are tough without a time limit. The current time limit mechanism is too severe!

As many others have correctly pointed out, you are not entitled to finish this puzzle. It was explicitly designed to be the most challenging jumping puzzle they’ve done yet, to please the most fervent jumping puzzle enthusiasts looking for a challenge. It succeeded in that and then some. If it had been so easy that anyone could complete it, then the designer would have failed, because he specifically stated that he wanted to implement a nightmarish puzzle only the most dedicated will complete.

Nothing terrible will happen to you if you can’t complete it. Just move on, this puzzle is like 1-2% of the total halloween content. If it was the only thing they added, or one of a few things, I could understand the complaints. It’s not: it’s a tiny fraction of the overall content, and you don’t even need to complete it to get the kitten title people seem to want so badly. If Anet ends up caving in to these complaints from people that simply can’t accept the idea of content that’s not for them I’m going to be incredibly disappointed.

The puzzle is very doable, for those who are having trouble I suggest taking a break and trying again tomorrow or in a few hours. Watching a walkthrough on youtube is also a big help. If after that you still can not complete it, then move on and enjoy the rest of the patch. It’s mostly rote memorization so even the least agile players should be able to learn it eventually if they are calm and patient, but telling yourself it’s impossible or blaming it on Norn’s/Charrs will only delay your success, since it will distract you from focusing in on your own mistakes. Yes, Norns/Charrs can make things difficult for small characters, but it’s not close to impossible: you don’t need to even see your character once you’re used to it, your eye should be on the next platform anyway. Again though, if after sincerely taking that advice and looking to your own mistakes instead of blaming others/Anet you still can’t complete it, then you lack the basic dexterity needed to do reasonably challenging platforming of any kind.

If Arenanet structured all jumping puzzles around your skill level, the rest of us would be bored to tears, and I’ve noticed the people bad at jumping puzzles don’t even LIKE doing them: they just want the loot. It’s just selfish of you to ask Anet to ruin content that jumping puzzle enthusiasts LOVE simply so you can get your loot/achievement from the content you don’t even like doing. I have to say, after reading this thread I’m really disappointed in the GW2 community. I liked to think our game didn’t have as many “I want it NOW!” types as that other game, but it seems I was sorely mistaken.

p.s. I do recognize that there are some issues making the puzzle more difficult than it should be, and these should be addressed: namely, too many charrs/norns can make visibility somewhat difficult. Might be better to have different instances for each race, or resize everyone in some flavorful way (turn us into skeletons or something). I don’t think it will make as much of a difference as people failing are hoping though: I have a small character and once I figured out a consistent path, it didn’t matter if I couldn’t see my guy. Beyond that, it really is a very reasonable challenge: it seems impossible at first but you need to map out an efficient path in your head, taking the same route each time and improving upon it when needed. It’s also important to turn with your mouse instead of your keyboard, once you do these two things you will get it eventually, and you’ll feel GREAT when you do!

Let’s weigh the good vs bad.
Bad: 1. Too many people-how can I tell where to jump if there’s so many people getting in way of landing? 2. Mist too fast-I ran that tower for at least 6hrs combined plus waiting and I still can’t climb or react fast enough on those multiple sharp turns on teeny-tiny bars or gears to outrun the mist. 3. Teen-tiny Gears and bars-this wouldn’t be so bad if everyone had machine-like accuracy to make these jumps. 4. Fear-This is a halloween event and achievement. How am I supposed to complete something so difficult in a few days to get said achievement before it’s all taken away on Nov. 1st? Will I have to wait an ENTIRE YEAR just to get one achievement?

Good: 1. It is fun for the first hour or two. 2. Some people have great luck and miraculously pass it in their first 2-3 tries(machine-like accuracy). 3. Loot is cool, if you can make it there. 4. Looks is AWESOME. Great idea with tower and spinning and mist and all.

All-in-All, I am heavily disappointed in this jump puzzle. I’m afraid I am going to have to give up on this. A shame I won’t be able to complete it. Something hard or difficult is fine and all, but to have a time limit(Nov 1st) and unable to complete it in an hour speaks largely of why so many people fail. I was looking forward to getting all the Halloween things done and this was the only thing left. For those people talking about how easy it is, they all had enormously good luck or already passed it and are bragging. I speak for those MAJORITY that have same issues. Let’s get this fixed, please.

I won’t leave off there. There are some things others have suggested to make this FUN. 1. Make mist slower/get rid of those hands that drag you down.
2. Make everyone else invisible. Fine if they use same dungeon, we just don’t want to see them.
3. Get rid of some of the rubble and smooth out a few surfaces here and there and many more will be able to pass.
4. Either make it easier enough to pass for the MAJORITY of us, make the tower’s achievement possible all-year-round to get, or take the tower out of the achievements entirely(this last part about taking it out of achievements wouldn’t be fair to those who already got it).

My opinion here? DO SOMETHING, please! BEFORE Nov 1st!! I want to feeling of accomplishment of doing all achievements of Halloween the first time around, not a year from now(if it’s even accessible that time).

Good lord, when did people get to be so overly dramatic about everything?

Look folks, it’s pretty simple: If you don’t enjoy it then don’t do it. There is so much to do for the Halloween festivities, and the clocktower is just one of them.

If you’re getting frustrated or you’re feeling like you just can’t make it, then that’s fine. All you have to do is find something else to do.

Why do you feel like you either HAVE to complete it, or that you’re entitled to completing it? It isn’t required for your title, and the boots are nothing great. Move on with life.

Karenite.9837:

My opinion here? DO SOMETHING, please! BEFORE Nov 1st!! I want to feeling of accomplishment of doing all achievements of Halloween the first time around, not a year from now(if it’s even accessible that time).

Would you truly feel accomplished knowing that certain things had to be watered down to accommodate you because you couldn’t meet the level of skill required?

Kirrund.2654:

The camera issue is the least of your problems. If you can’t focus on the center of your screen to know where you are, even without seeing your model, it means you’re one of those slow, hesitant jumpers. You wouldn’t be able to finish it anyway. The first part and then the second part have zero time to waste. If you can’t hold forward key the entire time while jumping then you need to practice that before anything else.

Disproven by already presented examples. There are people who have completed the puzzle but have argued that the camera and blocking issues injected undesired fake difficulty into the game. You might want to read the thread before you make sweeping generalizations.

Bravo BluHaze! You conveyed in a few sentences what I probably failed to convey in a few paragraphs.

I am also very curious, for those having trouble:
Do you use your keyboard to turn, or your mouse?

If you use your keyboard, then I can understand why you’re having so much trouble. Use your mouse to turn and once you get used to it, it will be much, much easier. I’m not positive, but I think this is probably the root of most of the complaints, when you have a constant need to turn quickly and accurately as you run up, keyboard turning just isn’t good enough. It’s a bad habit learned from games like WoW where reactions didn’t matter as much, so you should try to learn to mouse-turn even if you don’t plan on finishing the puzzle. It’s essential to being effective in PvP, even in PvE it can make a huge difference: especially in dungeons (another area where we’ve seen lots of complaints…)

Caelib.2497:

7 page forum thread on Clock Tower. Conclusion: design fail.

Don’t forget the LARGE number of post about this on Reddit. An no kittens there. I think Anet really ticked off a very significant portion of the player base. The elitests can go back to WoW, please.

Take a look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eCzRcwXJE8

It’s very doable to just orient yourself by your camera position instead of looking at your character. In fact, focusing in on your character is a bad habit as you want to constantly be eyeing the next ledge. It’s sort of like how new drivers want to look right in front of their car because they’re nervous, which makes them less accurate instead of relaxing their eyes and taking in the road from further out.

It is hard at first, and fairly challenging afterwards. And it can be very hard, and even impossible, for some people. But overall, it’s a great one. It’s questionable, if it should be that hard in MMO, but no doubt, it’s definitely very fun.

Yeah that video hits it. When I stopped staring at my character I did much better.

I have zero doubt that the puzzle itself is doable; challenging, appropriately, but achievable with practice and effort. The trouble with the event is that it is grouped, and said group conceals, completely randomly, the elements of the puzzle required to succeed. I see many arguments claiming that it is ‘fine’ after the first two stages when 80% of the people have dropped away. So… 80% of the people in the event can’t succeed and the way to success is to wait until their character models are out-of-the-way? This is exactly the principal ‘whining’ point, which more than anything, is the issue.

Please make this a solo or Party instance, like a dungeon. I think you would be startled to see the % of success increase compared to current state.

sonicsix.5713:

Caelib.2497:

7 page forum thread on Clock Tower. Conclusion: design fail.

Don’t forget the LARGE number of post about this on Reddit. An no kittens there. I think Anet really ticked off a very significant portion of the player base. The elitests can go back to WoW, please.

Huh? I would think it would be the people that want the difficulty lowered because they can’t stomach the idea of a small % of content being too challenging for them that would be best served by going “back to WoW.”

In any case, the volume of complaints doesn’t mean the design is bad, it just means the unhappy people are very loud. Even if they are a majority, it only means that Anet failed in communicating that this puzzle is meant to be an extreme challenge, not something that everyone should stroll in and expect to complete within an hour. Of course they did do that, so ultimately all it means is too many gamers nowadays feel entitled to content, and will demand things be handed to them on a platter. For the puzzle to be a challenge for players with any dexterity whatsoever, it’s going to be “impossible” for those players that lack any dexterity whatsoever.

99.9% of GW2 is easy, and doesn’t require precise timing or dexterity. Heck, even 95+% of jumping puzzles don’t require precise timing or dexterity, and they’re a part of the game you’d think would cater to those that want to challenge those skills. I find it very small-minded to ask for the difficulty lowered because you feel entitled to completing this one puzzle, when 99.9% of the game and most of the update is equal-opportunity. Why can’t you let people that want a challenge have a single bit of content just for them? You already have the entire rest of the game tailored to your skill level…

Question for those that want it easier: is it actually poor game design to have a variety of different challenges in-game to cater to all skill levels? Having a variety of difficulty in activities, by nature, means there will be some things some people can’t complete. Having no variety of difficulty (i.e. all content in-game can be completed by everyone) means that there will be no content that can’t be completed by someone, but it ALSO means there will be no content that presents a challenge to anyone.

Say No! to the solo/instance thing… seriously why would you want that? I get other people can put you off but it’s a bit far to be asking to be the only one there, I myself find it absolutely boring if I’m the only one in a zone without a soul in sight….

I spent roughly two hours jumping through it and finally got into end. I enjoyed it a lot and I didn’t find it that bad. It was fun and challenging. I mean I found griffon rook run more difficult (still haven’t completed that). More jumping puzzles like this please!

Note: I’m not particularly good jumper but I love jumping puzzles.

My only complain is about the huge norn blocking the view. Once he got bored of the jumping it was easier.

THIS

Now for those b*tching about camera issues and bodies in the way…. wanna try using that excuse again lol ?

All it really is, is a challenging jumping puzzle. But a very forgiving one. I’m glad it is not too easy, or I wouldn’t have that adrenaline rush when I play it.

To those who think this is unfair and too hard… Two words: Griffonrook Run!

I seriously don’t get the hate for this. Yes you need to put some time and effort into this. But thats what certain aspects of this game should be like, and a jumping puzzle should be no different than a dungeon or something at this.

There are a ton of videos out there if you need that extra bit of info, or check the route.

I found the other people obnoxious at first, but you really get over that after 15 or so minutes. That’s when you should really have stopped looking at your character and looking at the next ledge (as previously mentioned), the other people drop like flies after you get past 25% of the jumping puzzle.

Cyric.7485:

Caelib.2497:

SolarNova.1052:

Caelib.2497:

7 page forum thread on Clock Tower. Conclusion: design fail.

Conclusion: To many whinners wanting things handed ot them on silver platter

Nope. People want to be able to participate in SPECIAL EVENT content without spending their entire weekend trying to complete one activity.

Sometimes the fair comes to town. Some people don’t like rollercoasters. They usually don’t ride them.

He’s right. What keeps you and everyone else from participating, exactly? By trying (fail or not) you have participated. This event is open to anyone who wishes to try. By not completing this you have not hindered yourself in any way… however, every time you whine on the forums could have been time spent participating in other events.