Guild Wars 2

Elunarie.9283:

Make it too easy and the more seasoned players find it too easy, and therefore not fun. There’s plenty of accessible content (like the Mad King as you mentioned) for everyone else. Let the vets have their fun with some challenging content.

Then remove the achievement for it. Let the vets have fun with their chest that I honestly could care less about.

So the jumping puzzle, one of the few things that I would actually call an “achievement” (because most other achievements prove nothing special), shouldn’t be an achievement? Ok…

Why remove the achievement? To be brutally honest: The clocktower is something me and many others ACHIEVED, so we earned the achievement. If you can’t beat it, then you shouldn’t have the achievement. Not every achievement shoul’d be out there for everybody, since you don’t achieve everything in life.

This is not life, this is a game. A game is fun. Meaning you don’t spend hours on it. This puzzle completely turns the GW2 philosophy upside down. Instead of you putting in a few hours and receiving the satisfaction of being able to still reach everything that the road runners can reach in 1 minute, now you must grind and pray to the 5 gods for your shiny title. This is WoW philosophy, not GW2.

Elunarie.9283:

It’s a skill-based thing. Make it easy to do and suddenly it’s not something that requires as much skill.

And I bet if I had your setup and your health, I’d have your skill level too. My eye sight is poor. If this puzzle were not timed, I could do it. It would take me a while.. but right now, this is impossible for me.

So… maybe the puzzle isn’t for you? This kind of complaint is comparable to complaining that Dark Souls is too hard. There will be difficult challenges, easy challenges, and other challenges in the middle of the road. A range is the best way to offer something to a wide variety of people.

For the record, it took me about 4 hours to finally get it down. Now that I’ve done it, I can get up there once every five runs maybe. I was frustrated, and I had thought to give up, but a few other people I would talk to between rounds kept me going. It’s a neat little puzzle. People just need to realize that you can’t win at everything.

This is not life, this is a game. A game is fun. Meaning you don’t spend hours on it. This puzzle completely turns the GW2 philosophy upside down. Instead of you putting in a few hours and receiving the satisfaction of being able to still reach everything that the road runners can reach in 1 minute, now you must grind and pray to the 5 gods for your shiny title. This is WoW philosophy, not GW2.

There’s no title for this, just what.. five achievement points and having it scratched off the “to-do” list? A game isn’t necessarily supposed to be “fun” in the pure sense of the word. See PATV’s Extra Credits.

Just because it can’t be done by some doesn’t mean that the reward for having done so should be revoked from those that did, nor should the reward be handed out to everyone.

I did this without and speed boosts and thought it was fun learning all the right things to do, but i like a challenge.

Some guildies wanted to do the jumping puzzle after we killed MK a couple times and I went to help them and i noticed you can use the Speed Booster for 15% movement speed for 1 hour if you think it’ll help.

Wasn’t sure if this got mentioned before, Didn’t want to scroll threw all the pages :P

Elunarie.9283:

Why remove the achievement? To be brutally honest: The clocktower is something me and many others ACHIEVED, so we earned the achievement. If you can’t beat it, then you shouldn’t have the achievement. Not every achievement shoul’d be out there for everybody, since you don’t achieve everything in life.

This is not life, this is a game. A game is fun. Meaning you don’t spend hours on it. This puzzle completely turns the GW2 philosophy upside down. Instead of you putting in a few hours and receiving the satisfaction of being able to still reach everything that the road runners can reach in 1 minute, now you must grind and pray to the 5 gods for your shiny title. This is WoW philosophy, not GW2.

I didn’t have to pray to any gods to get the achievement. You’re completely right, you shouldn’t have to pray to five gods to get an achievement. You should be able to get it based off of your skill level. If you can’t ACHIEVE that goal, then you don’t deserve the ACHIEVEment. I don’t see why there’s all this entitlement to something that’s completely optional.

Elunarie.9283:

Why remove the achievement? To be brutally honest: The clocktower is something me and many others ACHIEVED, so we earned the achievement. If you can’t beat it, then you shouldn’t have the achievement. Not every achievement shoul’d be out there for everybody, since you don’t achieve everything in life.

This is not life, this is a game. A game is fun. Meaning you don’t spend hours on it. This puzzle completely turns the GW2 philosophy upside down. Instead of you putting in a few hours and receiving the satisfaction of being able to still reach everything that the road runners can reach in 1 minute, now you must grind and pray to the 5 gods for your shiny title. This is WoW philosophy, not GW2.

There is always going to be content that someone, somewhere cannot complete. Do we simply keep rebalancing every time someone whines that it’s too hard for them? Your thoughts are way too egocentric, believing your fun = everyone else’s fun. I put in an hour before I was able to complete the puzzle, and it was fun FOR ME and I’m sure for many others. If it were made easier, I probably wouldn’t have found it very fun… just easy.

Point is, everyone plays at different skill levels. You’re right, the game should be fun for EVERYONE, and having a wide range of difficulties in content is the best way to achieve this.

Just a last word. The time for superbly challenging super mario hack job puzzles is not in the world-wide fun event. I guess I’m seeing that someday soon games won’t be fun for me anymore, because devs will have to follow the superleet arms race of skill that seems to be going on here, and make things more and more challenging. To say after 6 hours of work trying to get that last halloween achievement, that I don’t deserve it.. is just over the top.

How much is going to be too much time spent on some kitten achievement? 12 hours.. 24 hours? If the next puzzle doesn’t make at least 99% of the population of the game throw their computers out the window, it isn’t challenging?

So because the majority of the gamer base is superleet, that’s who we’re pleasing? I guess so, that’s only good business ..and its a shame.

Talking about entitlement and handouts is just absolute mockery of people in general. I don’t call spending 6 hours wasting my time with nothing to show for it and thinking that maybe the puzzle is alittle too hard – entitlement. But I guess this also gets down to the core of all previous and to-date MMOs – competition. Over fake things. And enjoying feeling “superior” to all other gamers with your titles and legendary weapons. It would be nice someday to have a game where keeping up with the joneses wasn’t the main focus. I thought this was that game. People working together, not against each other.

If it’s not fun, go play a part of the game you DO enjoy. If you are doing it for the achievement then you’ll have to suck it up. There are always parts of meta achievements in many games that aren’t fun, yet you have to take the rough with the smooth.

I personally enjoyed the clock tower immensely. It was frustrating, it was difficult, but that was the attraction for me. Reading numerous threads over the past few days tells me I’m not alone.

Sure there have been a lot of complaints on the forums, but that’s normal, most people come here to complain rather than praise. In-game however it’s a different story, most people that I’ve seen talking about it over chat channels and certainly those that I have been inside the puzzle with have mostly enjoyed the puzzle.

More of this content please Arenanet. I’m sick of MMOs catering to the crowd that want everything on a plate without actually putting any effort in.

Elunarie.9283:

Just a last word. The time for superbly challenging super mario hack job puzzles is not in the world-wide fun event. I guess I’m seeing that someday soon games won’t be fun for me anymore, because devs will have to follow the superleet arms race of skill that seems to be going on here, and make things more and more challenging. To say after 6 hours of work trying to get that last halloween achievement, that I don’t deserve it.. is just over the top.

How much is going to be too much time spent on some kitten achievement? 12 hours.. 24 hours? If the next puzzle doesn’t make at least 99% of the population of the game throw their computers out the window, it isn’t challenging?

So because the majority of the gamer base is superleet, that’s who we’re pleasing? I guess so, that’s only good business ..and its a shame.

Talking about entitlement and handouts is just absolute mockery of people in general. I don’t call spending 6 hours wasting my time with nothing to show for it and thinking that maybe the puzzle is alittle too hard – entitlement. But I guess this also gets down to the core of all previous and to-date MMOs – competition. Over fake things. And enjoying feeling “superior” to all other gamers with your titles and legendary weapons. It would be nice someday to have a game where keeping up with the joneses wasn’t the main focus. I thought this was that game. People working together, not against each other.

You seem to keep missing the point. You make it sound like ALL the content is being made too difficult and will continue to follow that trend. The fact is ONE aspect, ONE piece of content was too difficult for YOU.

It’s not about feeling superior, it’s about providing content and challenge for ALL ranges of skill, not just the lowest common denominator. I’m done arguing because you keep ignoring key pieces of the argument.

And for the record, wanting to have something to show for 6 hours of FAILING and then going to the forums to complain about it so that difficult content won’t be released in the future… that’s the very definition of self-entitlement and asking for handouts. You didn’t complete the task, simply putting in TIME shouldn’t be rewarded. It’s a fact of life, in and outside of games, that there will always be some things out of your reach, tasks too difficult that cannot simply be overcome with time… you need to learn to accept it.

Took me about 8 hours of headscratching but I finally did it.

Its nice, reminded me of old NES SNES games.

If I didnt complete it before the event was over, then tough luck. It means I came up short in the end. I dont see the problem with it.

I dont think my character gets any weaker, lose any stats, etc etc. If I dont complete it

Alright, I’ve had my fill of this player base. Money talks, so I’ll take mine and put it where my mouth is. I’m quitting this game, which means no more gem store purchases from me, no more expansions purchased. I’m not quitting it because of the inclusion of the puzzle – I’m quitting for the obvious harassment (calling me a failure, self-entitlement seeker, asking for handouts, lowest common denominator) and clear lack of care for people who don’t have the skill/computer/time/health to do this sort of thing. The player base who has responded to my comments are just plain callous and degrading. I made some good arguments against the inclusion of this sort of thing, especially in a main holiday event which is supposed to INCLUSIVE OF ALL, not exclusive of the “non-skilled”. And I’m sorry but the puzzle and the reaction of these players has ruined my holiday, and more-so my interest in this game. After all, an MMO is played WITH people and I wouldn’t play with people who think 6 hours spent on a holiday puzzle is a fine time.

After reading this thread, I decided to put together a tutorial of how to complete the clock tower jumping puzzle. I hope this helps some of you that are struggling with it.

seems my problem is totally different… i get kinda sick after abit on the tower, think its all the spinning effects, makes it abit difficult, i have to quit after trying for awhile and then go back in a try again later.

Elunarie.9283:

Alright, I’ve had my fill of this player base. Money talks, so I’ll take mine and put it where my mouth is. I’m quitting this game, which means no more gem store purchases from me, no more expansions purchased. I’m not quitting it because of the inclusion of the puzzle – I’m quitting for the obvious harassment (calling me a failure, self-entitlement seeker, asking for handouts, lowest common denominator) and clear lack of care for people who don’t have the skill/computer/time/health to do this sort of thing. The player base who has responded to my comments are just plain callous and degrading. I made some good arguments against the inclusion of this sort of thing, especially in a main holiday event which is supposed to INCLUSIVE OF ALL, not exclusive of the “non-skilled”. And I’m sorry but the puzzle and the reaction of these players has ruined my holiday, and more-so my interest in this game. After all, an MMO is played WITH people and I wouldn’t play with people who think 6 hours spent on a holiday puzzle is a fine time.

You’re twisting words… it’s a fact that you failed the event, never called you a straight up failure; and I never called you the lowest common denominator, just that someone will ALWAYS find content difficult; that doesn’t mean that content should be balanced around every complaint because THAT would be balancing around the lowest common denominator.

I want to include all, but your idea of what GW2 should be basically EXCLUDES the higher-skilled population because content that is too easy for them isn’t really fun. Saying it one last time, a large range of difficulty in content is how you include everyone.

Anyways you’ve quit the game (apparently), so you’ll never see this. Just wanna clear up a few last points for all the folks watching at home.

Safe travels Elunarie.9283. I agree some of the statements found in this whole post could have been done with more taste. If this event was done with all in mind the timer would not be included. Sadly they picked a poor path for most. Hope Anet team learns from this. Cheers for all whom the bell rang out for.

It’s just a hard optional platforming puzzle. People are talking like Halloween is ruined for them, and even talking about quiting the game, because they couldn’t make it to the top. How childish is that?

Who wants to join me for Griffonrook Run WITH bombs to open the chest? Any griffon that hits you makes the bomb explode, AND you are on a timer. Take too long, and the bomb explodes as well. Oh, and if you fall down your armor will receive damage! There’s an achievement tied to it. Anyone? Anyone at all?

WoW philosophy is not about it being hard, in fact these days it’s the whole opposite because WoW’s content is balanced around the lowest common denominator.

That being said it’s true that you have to make cuts somewhere the problem is that most people using that term do not have a real clue where it actually is located on the demographic scale. There are fringe groups on both ends which if catered too strongly for may alienate the core demographics. So if they make content exactly doing that they always take a huge risk and it has to be compensated somewhere which I think they did well by offering excess amounts of doable content easily beaten by hartcore players.

However I would not dismiss any concerns raised in a constructive manner being related to difficulty balancing which is what many people erroneously are doing.

Elunarie.9283:

Make it too easy and the more seasoned players find it too easy, and therefore not fun. There’s plenty of accessible content (like the Mad King as you mentioned) for everyone else. Let the vets have their fun with some challenging content.

Then remove the achievement for it. Let the vets have fun with their chest that I honestly could care less about.

I couldn’t care less about the chest. I earned that achievement though. Removing achievements because it’s actually an achievement to get them is insane. If you can’t do it either practice more or accept the fact that you can’t do it and go do something else.

What is people’s obsession nowadays with demanding games be changed every time they can’t do something? You can’t do everything in the world perfectly, no-one can.

I probably can’t do a PhD in astrophysics, shall I go complain that the PhD letters should be removed because I can’t put them after my name?

Funset.7893:

I fully support the OP, most frustrating and dumb thing ive ever seen in my life. If they continue to pull a content kitteny as this so called jumping “puzzle”, i will simply quit this game. And I was thinking of buyin coins lol. No, not gona support Anet if they pull such frustrating crap. It is my own opinion tho, some may like spending several hours on this mindless stuff, but no thanks

Just don’t do it if you don’t like it! Why must optional content others really enjoy be removed because you don’t like it? No-one is forcing you to do it.

Kana.6793:

Funset.7893:

I fully support the OP, most frustrating and dumb thing ive ever seen in my life. If they continue to pull a content kitteny as this so called jumping “puzzle”, i will simply quit this game. And I was thinking of buyin coins lol. No, not gona support Anet if they pull such frustrating crap. It is my own opinion tho, some may like spending several hours on this mindless stuff, but no thanks

Just don’t do it if you don’t like it! Why must optional content others really enjoy be removed because you don’t like it? No-one is forcing you to do it.

It is a content I would never be able to do, cuz it is extremly frustrating for me and I dont have the nerves to do it. So yeah, I am a bit mad.

You need nerves of steel to do it. Thats what makes it so exciting and good!

Funset.7893:

It is a content I would never be able to do, cuz it is extremly frustrating for me and I dont have the nerves to do it. So yeah, I am a bit mad.

I can see how the puzzle could be frustrating, but why are you mad at Anet because you can’t do it?

If you think you’ll never able to do it why not just move on to a different Halloween activity?

Any designer who admits to designing a “holiday” event so difficult they estimate only about 5% of the people will be able to do it has deliberately alienated a majority of their core player base only 2 months after game launch. This does not, in my opinion, bode well for future holiday events being any more inclusive or the level of care and/or respect for the player base in general. This is just this player’s opinion and I accept that it will not be shared by everyone. I respect others’ right to differ as opinions are just that…and opinion…and one is no better or worse than another since they are always totally subjective.

It is my fervent hope the designers have learned from this fiasco and will consider being MUCH more inclusive of the majority of players in upcoming holiday events. As the winter holidays are just around the corner, time will tell.

Fiasco? It’s a success. Kudos to a designer who creates a challenge that is actually challenging, so even the most enthusiastic platformers need nerves of steel to do it.

And I’m amazed by the technical achievement as well. For a team to create something that scripting wise is really difficult to get right on such short notice is amazing. It is a risky concept, but it is balanced to perfection!

No one is being alienated by being challenged. Anyone can have a go at it and fail miserably.

So some ppl here say Clock Tower is just fine and fun content, and meanwhile in game ppl are paying ingame gold (or whatever) and giving away their account data to other ppl to pass this puzzle for them. And then u tell me it is NOT frustrating and bad?! Ok.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

And I’m amazed by the technical achievement as well. For a team to create something that scripting wise is really difficult to get right on such short notice is amazing. It is a risky concept, but it is balanced to perfection!

Yep, they got it right including the camera bugs, the falling thru platforms, the cut scene keeping people lagged at the end just long enough so that they fail before they start, the getting hung up on graphic edges, the bouncing off the face of the broken clock face, the random ports out…yep….balanced to utter perfection.

It isn’t bad. It’s good. It’s almost perfect. But a lot of people are spoiled, and want every achievement handed to them on a silver plate. The fact that they’ll pay gold to get an achievement for something they were not-good-enough to complete says more about the character of a lot of players than about the challenge itself.

And be real for just a second, this is one of the most forgiving of all the platforming challenges. There are harder jumping puzzles in the game, and some of them will give you a lot of armor repairs and force you to climb back up after each attempt. The Clocktower has no armor repair costs and instantly teleports you back for a new try. That is as fair as it gets… and still people want to cheat their way to the achievement? Those people are sad and deserve pity. But don’t dumb down the challenge for those sad folks.

mrsrachelm.7618:

Yep, they got it right including the camera bugs, the falling thru platforms, the cut scene keeping people lagged at the end just long enough so that they fail before they start, the getting hung up on graphic edges, the bouncing off the face of the broken clock face, the random ports out…yep….balanced to utter perfection.

I have not fallen though any platforms, only missed a jump several times. The collision detection is perfectly fine. And camera issues? Those are part of the entire game. Nothing about the platform challenge itself could fix issues with the overall camera of the entire game. Yes, there are some timing issues occasionally, I have seen them happen as well. They are bugs. But creating a map like this is HARD, really HAAARD. You have no idea what goes into creating a level as technically complicated as this. The way it tracks player progress and fast forwards if all players have failed, and then quickly resets. The accurate timing of the green mist so it is always on your heels and you always barely make it. The cutscene in fact ensures everyone starts at the same time, and at the same spot, and makes sure any boosts activated in the hub are disabled. And on top of that, there is even a small pause at the start before the debris forms, to provide everyone with enough time to get into position.

This is one of the best jumping challenges in the game at the moment, and it is one of the most fine balanced challenges as well. Everyone can try it, and everyone can succeed or fail.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

It isn’t bad. It’s good. It’s almost perfect. But a lot of people are spoiled, and want every achievement handed to them on a silver plate. The fact that they’ll pay gold to get an achievement for something they were not-good-enough to complete says more about the character of a lot of players than about the challenge itself.

And be real for just a second, this is one of the most forgiving of all the platforming challenges. There are harder jumping puzzles in the game, and some of them will give you a lot of armor repairs and force you to climb back up after each attempt. The Clocktower has no armor repair costs and instantly teleports you back for a new try. That is as fair as it gets… and still people want to cheat their way to the achievement? Those people are sad and deserve pity. But don’t dumb down the challenge for those sad folks.

Indeed. I really don’t understand the purpose of paying someone to do an achievement for you. Where is the achievement in that? In that case all you have sitting in your achievement pane is a reminder that you cheated because you couldn’t do something.

I agree with the norn and charr characters. They’re so huge! xD If you’re a lone asura in there, it’s extra difficult, but still doable. It took me 3 hours of trying to complete the puzzle. I knew I would eventually get it, but it was a real challenge and fun to do with my friend.

Unfortunately I do agree that -some- people might not be able to do this because of disabilities or whatever. It’s something that takes skill with your mouse and keyboard. I even had to remove my mouse mat and adjust my position so I could achieve it. I know my guild leader gave up on it because it was something he felt was not within his abilities.

mrsrachelm.7618:

Any designer who admits to designing a “holiday” event so difficult they estimate only about 5% of the people will be able to do it has deliberately alienated a majority of their core player base only 2 months after game launch.

Where are you getting this 5% figure?

In my experience from talking in public channels, most people have completed it, and only a few haven’t.

I hope you are not basing your figures on the number of complaints on the forums because only a tiny minority of players bother to use forums, and the majority of those only use them to complain.

People should take these kinds of things less serious. If I run up a staircase in Demons Souls and a giant boulder instantly kills my character, I have a good laugh and try again from the start. Some people apparently start throwing their keyboard around and fuming their frustration on a forum because the game is hard.

When I miss a jump at the Clocktower, be it due to a Charr blocking my view, or me simply messing up because I am not concentrated enough, I have a good laugh and try again. And then after the 30th or 40th try, fellow guildies will login on their charr characters and join me in the instance, just to have a wee bit more fun at my expense. And its all fine! Stop taking this so serious people.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Yep, the got it right including the camera bugs, the falling thru platforms, the cut scene keeping people lagged at the end just long enough so that they fail before they start, the getting hung up on graphic edges, the bouncing off the face of the broken clock face, the random ports out…yep….balanced to utter perfection.

Actually as pointed out before the designer had to change towards a bigger group it was designed as singleplayer before.

There are two layers to look at:

The design layer which dictates the difficulty of the content.

The technical layer which dictates the accessibility and the difficulty for those relying on accessibility in order to beat the difficulty of the content.

Design-based difficulty is perceived individually, you are fine with it and crown it as symbol of perfection, I am fine with it and crown it as symbol of creativity. So no dispute here.

But when it comes to the technical side you can’t just dismiss it based on your experience, it’s up to the designer to see how often but more importantly how severe it can get into the way. In this case we have issues which sporadically pop up in the main game but end up in a condensed state in this content. Depending on which part you rely on when beating such games this may or may not affect you as much. People with strong muscle memory can do it no problem. Others require more visual clearance and they run into problems. It’s not necessarily that they deliberately blame their failures on technicalities even though it is common and gives players with genuine issues a bad reputation. But it all gets sorted out when these issues are fixed and suddenly wheat is separated from the chaff.

Mandrax.7342:

mrsrachelm.7618:

Any designer who admits to designing a “holiday” event so difficult they estimate only about 5% of the people will be able to do it has deliberately alienated a majority of their core player base only 2 months after game launch.

Where are you getting this 5% figure?

In my experience from talking in public channels, most people have completed it, and only a few haven’t.

I hope you are not basing your figures on the number of complaints on the forums because only a tiny minority of players bother to use forums, and the majority of those only use them to complain.

It’s a quote from Josh himself (he designed the puzzle) saying he only expected approximately 5% of the people to make it to the top. There’s a link to it buried somewhere in this topic thread.

mrsrachelm.7618:

Mandrax.7342:

mrsrachelm.7618:

Any designer who admits to designing a “holiday” event so difficult they estimate only about 5% of the people will be able to do it has deliberately alienated a majority of their core player base only 2 months after game launch.

Where are you getting this 5% figure?

In my experience from talking in public channels, most people have completed it, and only a few haven’t.

I hope you are not basing your figures on the number of complaints on the forums because only a tiny minority of players bother to use forums, and the majority of those only use them to complain.

It’s a quote from Josh himself (he designed the puzzle) saying he only expected approximately 5% of the people to make it to the top. There’s a link to it buried somewhere in this topic thread.

Wow, 5%, I think they failed if they were shooting for 5%, because I don’t know too many that really wanted to complete it, that haven’t managed it.

Elunarie.9283:

This is not life, this is a game. A game is fun. Meaning you don’t spend hours on it. This puzzle completely turns the GW2 philosophy upside down. Instead of you putting in a few hours and receiving the satisfaction of being able to still reach everything that the road runners can reach in 1 minute, now you must grind and pray to the 5 gods for your shiny title. This is WoW philosophy, not GW2.

A game is fun therefore you do spend hours on it, because it’s fun.

This clock tower is the exact opposite of WoW’s philosophy actually. Blizzard lower everything to the lowest denominator now.

The clock tower is not grinding, it’s skill based.

Saying Clock Tower is skill based is the same to say PvP in WoW is skill based. U just need to spend hours of frustration in both to accomplish something,. So ur exampe sux big time, my friend. l2argue.

ARENANET

Please sort out the puzzle. 2 days worth of trying it and not even half way through it.
Its far to hard and very disapointing if i miss out on a title because im not a super nerd that has amazing jumping puzzle skills.
React to what youre fans are saying and stop listening to the people who say they have done it and its easy when they are 10 year olds trying tooo look cool.

I posted on another thread but i’ll post again here- I spent four hours total attempting it and was an the end of my tether, coming onto these forums and complaining like so many others. I gave it a rest for a day and came back. 1 hour later still nothing. Im really not great at jumping puzzles without the added problem of it being timed. Had a break, kicked some MK bottom and in a break between parties tried again. Fifth run I did it.

The point im trying to make is this- dont grind it for longer than a few hours because you get tired and it hinders you. Take a break, relax, release all the pent up aggression and actually ask yourself why you want to complete it. All you get is a meaningless achievement and some boots which look awful and you cannot sell as theyre soulbound. If like me you dont want to give up keep at it. I can 100% assure you that when you get up there your heart will be beating so hard it’ll be coming out of your chest, you’ll be a mess of tears lying on the floor. But that feeling…it may only be a game but as feelings go it was one of pure awesome.

Im never going back there again…but four hours of trying and it was worth it.

Took me roughly 50 attempts (whatever that equals to time-wise I dunno). I had to break it apart into 4 different session attempts.

Once you complete it you feel AWESOME. I don’t think they should change this at all. It’s supposed to be hard, not everyone is supposed to be able to do it.

Since I’ve done it once, all FIVE of my characters have completed it. You get so good at doing it after 50 attempts that its literally a joke now.

Hell I did it for fun 3 times already! FOR FUN! Get 8x trick or treat bags if you complete it after you beat it once. At least that’s what I got. I also did it to see what you get from that chest after the drop down (5x ToT bags =/)

Funset.7893:

Saying Clock Tower is skill based is the same to say PvP in WoW is skill based. U just need to spend hours of frustration in both to accomplish something,. So ur exampe sux big time, my friend. l2argue.

You need to practice and memorize it. And after you’ve beaten it, you’ll probably be able to complete it easily multiple times, because you’ll know it by heart.

Are you saying it doesn’t require skill? Well then, you and me, head to head. Lets see who makes it to the top first.

Draknar.5748:

not everyone is supposed to be able to do it.

Can you explain why?

VMKbazza.4597:

ARENANET

Please sort out the puzzle. 2 days worth of trying it and not even half way through it.
Its far to hard and very disapointing if i miss out on a title because im not a super nerd that has amazing jumping puzzle skills.
React to what youre fans are saying and stop listening to the people who say they have done it and its easy when they are 10 year olds trying tooo look cool.

ANet, please don’t cater to the 10 year olds who want everything dumbed down and made so easy that anyone can do it without any effort or skill.

I’ve done Clocktower. I’m not going to say it’s easy, it isn’t. It’s hard. That’s the point. That’s what makes it fun. It is intended to be hard enough that not everyone will be able to complete it. Stop tying your self-worth to whether you can complete a puzzle or not. If you can’t do it, you have to just man up and accept the fact that you’re not good enough.

This is not a primary-school sports-day where everyone gets a medal for participation.

Honestly the Clock Tower has nothing to do with skill at all it’s all about repetition anyone can do it but it’s just time consuming. It’s a time attack with bad camera angels and the worst part that gets most people is the huge character models who block the view for others at the small areas they need to jump to. Speed boost help to stay in front of the pact to see where you are going. As far as fun goes it’s ok.

What could have been done in the spirit of Halloween is to transform everyone into the same character model (skeleton, ghouls, ghosts, ect…) changes every time at restart and give them all the same skills and make all character buffs reset to zero.

In any case don’t fret if you don’t get it this time maybe the devs there will take my suggestion in to consideration and make it a lot better next year. There is always next year to try again.

>>This is not a primary-school sports-day where everyone gets a medal for participation.

Actually it is a videogame.

mrsrachelm.7618:

Any designer who admits to designing a “holiday” event so difficult they estimate only about 5% of the people will be able to do it has deliberately alienated a majority of their core player base only 2 months after game launch. This does not, in my opinion, bode well for future holiday events being any more inclusive or the level of care and/or respect for the player base in general. This is just this player’s opinion and I accept that it will not be shared by everyone. I respect others’ right to differ as opinions are just that…and opinion…and one is no better or worse than another since they are always totally subjective.

It is my fervent hope the designers have learned from this fiasco and will consider being MUCH more inclusive of the majority of players in upcoming holiday events. As the winter holidays are just around the corner, time will tell.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, there NEEDS to be a variety in content difficulty in order for content to be inclusive to everyone. Designing content that everyone can complete neglects the higher-skilled players because content than any average gamer can complete simply isn’t fun. Having ONE event that’s OPTIONAL be challenging, and that some people won’t complete, is perfectly reasonable and provides challenge for that population of players. It’s honestly your own fault if you let one challenge ruin your holiday experience.

As anyone here can see, there are a good number of people that have said they’ve had fun with the puzzle and enjoyed the challenge. For these people, this was the perfect amount of challenge. Had the puzzle been made easier, these people would be EXCLUDED as no content would have been designed around their skill level.

Oh and guess what? It’s not required for the title. How many of you people crying about it being too difficult even care about the puzzle now that you know it isn’t required for your precious title? I personally wish it was, I thought I was going to get a title that actually carried some weight and felt like an actual achievement for once…

Zehnchu.4985:

Honestly the Clock Tower has nothing to do with skill at all it’s all about repetition anyone can do it but it’s just time consuming. It’s a time attack with bad camera angels and the worst part that gets most people is the huge character models who block the view for others at the small areas they need to jump to. Speed boost help to stay in front of the pact to see where you are going. As far as fun goes it’s ok.

If it has nothing to do with skill, want to race me to the top?

Ravenblade.7685:

Brunners.7251:

Yep that’s what he said. He created it with the intention that only about 5% of the playerbase would be able to finish it.

Huh? He said “maybe 5% of people” not “5% of playerbase”. It was an ad hoc guesstimate not a statistical constant. Meaning the real number is probably a bit higher.
—-

Here’s his exact quote:
“I designed it with the goal of having only ~5% of the population able to get all the way”

Also, he actually said that when he first dreamed this puzzle up he wanted it to be single player, which is why it’s all zergy at the bottom, because there was only meant to be one of you.

hmm 5%?
OK, I can assure you all that I was this close to ragequitting many times but I finally said to myself “I do not try to beat the game but myself”. So I calmed, took a ciggy and finished Clocktower in less than 5 attempts. Point is, most of us have the skills but not all of us have the nerves to do it. Bashing jump key and tearing your mouse form socket is not the solution here. Watch few vids on youtube, be aware what to do next, practice a bit and I am sure that 95% of people here will finish it within 1 hour (waiting time included) tho I must say that some big shaped characters obstruct the line of sight big time.

In my view, the Clock Tower is probably my favorite part of the entire event. I’ve enjoyed every bit of it, especially the exploration of high level areas my main character didn’t belong in to complete the Mad Memories book, but the Clock Tower was far and away the most challenging, and therefore most rewarding part. Thanks for a fantastic event ArenaNet! I’m really looking forward to ACT 4 tomorrow and to future holiday events!

People feel entitled to everything in a game. If they cant do it then they will rage and cry hoping the Devs will drop the difficulty. Those same people are the ones that Im sure have quit many many other games cause they are to “hard” only difference is this place has a forum they can complain on.

Achievements are things in games that take effort or luck to get. GW2 like many other games has achievements that are meant to be hard and not achievable by everyone.
Thats the point of it. Most games now days have some sort of crazy achievement or trophy that only a small amount of the population is meant to get.

Get over it complainers. If you don’t get the achievements then oh well, move on with life and the game and go hunt down other achievements. Ive made it a point to complete every jump puzzle in this game but one that I may not get is completing griffinrook run with a bomb and dark reverie in caledon forest (that one jump keeps trolling me cause of the angle) other then that every jump puzle is done.

However Im not crying about not completing those 2 cause there are plenty of other things to do.4

Sure the halloween stuff is time based but thats how many games and other MMO’s are…dont get it this time wait till next year. Thats how dare I say it…WoW is with its “Its been a long year/journey” or whatever the achivement is called. That one requires you to complete every special seasonal event over the year for an achivement….in other words if your extremely lucky it will take one year to get it…but for most it takes many years.

In other words stop complaining and move on. Not everyone is going to have a full achievements list of completion. Thats just how it is and I hope and pray the devs don’t ever cave in on these things. Its meant to be like this so get over it.

I’ve been on many forums and I feel like this is one of the few that has the largest whiner base ever. Yes I’ve complained in the past myself but this is ridiculous.