Guild Wars 2

I enjoyed the jumping puzzle, I understand that most people will not be able to do it due to quick reflexes or some type of disability but this may sound mean but why should all of us suffer for one game mechanic that doesn’t “need” to be completed, it is one thing that was put in for the event. There are plenty of other things that can be worked. The statement about “master platformers” I most likely ran this event about 50-60 times in 2 hours give or take and finally completed it. People just get to frustrated with the mechanics, it doesn’t take a master platformer to do this jumping puzzle(the reason I say this is because I don’t play platform games and never will) you just need timing, trial and research and you can remember where you need to go and jump and where to take your time when you have it.

All you need is practice. Similiarly to those saying they can’t see their models, you simply need to perfect your jumping skills. I can’t count the amount of times I was running with the pack to eventually leading and becoming first and slowly breaking away from them.

Then again I was a norn, but I doubt that would have affected me, most of the time I had already memorised the path and when to jump.

But here is also the dilemma, if you are moving constantly and reaching ahead of others like I did, you’re most likely going to complete the jumping puzzle. if you are staggering behind within the group, you aren’t moving efficiently enough. You simply need to keep practicing the first part. Once you get a good headstart, you’ll be running on your own in most cases.

Also agree with some about how bringing in the ‘disability’ part is making your argument any better. Infact a lot of this game would be similiar to the jumping puzzle where you need to react quickly, timing dodges, quickly turning in different directions and using various skills constantly in heat of battles.

You crazy kids that never played platformers before crack me up.
If you want to be handfed achievements and good job stickers go play whatever Call of Duty game they are releasing this year.

Half the charm is seeing other players in the puzzle, it reminds me a little of rollerbeetle racing.
The size thing can be an issue though, so why not just throw a transformation on players during the puzzle? Then everybody is the same size and all that.

Its great fun, Id love to see more like this in the future.

You say “In my view” then go on to claim that ANET’s “audience” doesnt like it, well i never got the memo/petition about not liking this, and for a fact I LOVE IT. So quit complaining and L2jump. Keep up the great work ANET, this is what jumping puzzles should be like.

The only problem I’m having is visibility. They should make this puzzle solo. It’s really annoying not being able to see where you’re going with 20 people around you.

How can you run a timeattack based event when these maps lag you like hell, that’s my point, if they are going to call this a ‘master platform’ event, they may as well call it ‘master connection’

You get kicked in less than a second if you don’t take a jump forward, and a lot of people dont even get the chance to jump forward due to their connection.

The Clock Tower is a design fail from multiple aspects:

1) the game camera is flaky

2) large groups of players and huge player models make an extremely challenging puzzle nearly impossible

3) even if the first two problems were eliminated, the vast majority of players probably wont complete the puzzle before the event because it’s too hard/requires too much time investment to complete. Special Event content is supposed to be FUN, not frustrating … that is why this is an epic fail by ArenaNet.

Beat it with my warrior norn, no speed boosts required. I even kept taking the lead. How? I keep moving, others keep pausing every now and then to time their jumps.

Oh common guyz, are you kidding me? Stop crying about Clocktower, i was there like 2 hours and those 2 hours were best time i have ever had in a game. It’s not hard, it’s not A-net problem that u are unable to jump. Halloween is the best think they did for us right after releasing this game. So, no more crying please…

People getting mad about the puzzle because of supposed bugs and limited availability in conjunction with difficulty.. I don’t get it. Not having the achievement will not destroy your life. And if in your view it does.. I’d say deal with it.

There will always be someone who will not be able to get something in the game, whether that’s due to lack of in-game currency, lack of real hard cash, lack of prerequisites that are unrelated to the game, lack of time due to work or time zones, or in this case, lack in skill due to difficulty, limited availability of the object of desire, or any combination of the above.

If everyone had this attitude there would be a kittenstorm of posts about pretty much any facet that could ’’possibly’’ not be achieved by ~some~ subset of people that are stuck in a specific situation.

Personally I only had the camera bug out on me one time when standing on a specific platform (the round one that you can jump on before the wall explodes for the first time, slightly to the left of the stairs) so I taught myself not to jump on that. After that I haven’t had any bugs at all. As for norn and charr blocking the view, well if you wait even as much as one second pretty much everyone is either dead or running ahead of you, while the acid won’t kill you yet, if you’re that bothered by it you can use this to solve the problem in the meantime. (Though perhaps the problem is more prevalent on high pop servers)

I agree with one point, solo instances should be optional for those that still get buggered by it, still put it on a timer though. Don’t want everyone getting a million ToT bags.)

In the end, I am glad that ANet added this puzzle. If ANet normalized the difficulty of everything to the lowest common denominator, then I would quit this game as it would become boring as hell. This puzzle, and Lupicus come to mind, after having seen the tons of posts and people in-game claiming this puzzle and that boss were impossible to handle.

My son enjoyed it, spent hours working on it, and by trial and error finally finished it. He didn’t watch a video just figured it out by himself. He likes those kinds of challenges.

Me, I like jumping puzzles but I don’t like timed events combined with jumping puzzles. Separately both things are fine, together spells frustration for me. I plan on watching a video over and over and over trying to memorize what they did.

Then I will try it. If I don’t make it in 30 minutes, I’ll mark it off my to do list and pretend it doesn’t exist. The end reward isn’t fabulous enough for me to endure hours of frustration. I suggest that if you can’t complete it and it is causing you extreme frustration, just pretend it doesn’t exist and tell your gaming buddies to never speak of it again in your presence. Works for me.

Just an update here. i ran through with my sylvari ele (with the speed buffs) and completed it within 12 tries.

I then decided to see if the asura was infact more difficult. Ran a lvl 7 asura meser (not speed buffs at all) through and got it on the 3rd go.

What this says to me is “All you dudes having extreme trouble, run with a charr/norn lvl 1 alt, get the feel for the jumps, then redo on smaller characters”

The camera did seem more flaky on the smaller characters, but knowing where to jump, i didnt have a problem.

DO NOT WATCH UR CHARACTER. The distance on the screen should give u a fine indication of when to jump. Once i got past the first fally part, i never looked at my character for the rest of the puzzle

Edit: Australian with 250 ping, and there were 70% norn/charr on all runs

1st, most of the people love the Clocktower Jumping Puzzle.

2nd, people complaining here are people who couldn’t finish the jumping puzzle and are frustrated….

3rd, it is not profession dependand, lol you guys, did it with my Guardian, 0 boosts, 0 speed boons/buff or whatsoever.

4th, I did it with lots of Charr and Norns, yes, it was annoying, but 100% doable, just concentrate on yourself

On another note, there are many posts about the clock tower and some of them have helpful hints in them such as the above post try it with a taller character first and to not watch your character.

I read another post that said to run close to the tower (to the right) not middle or left.

It would be great if there was a thread that summarized the hints.

I had a lot of fun doing the clock-tower. The only thing I’ll agree with the OP on is the first point, about other players blocking the view; that can be pretty frustrating. It would be nice if the other players at least were ghosted or transparent so I could properly see my own char.

I really hope ANet do not listen to his other points, especially about slowing down the ooze. It is perfectly fine as it is. It is supposed to be hard and should not be dumbed down. This is not WoW where everything has to be reduced to cater to the lowest common denominator…

I raged. I’m bad enough at regular jumping puzzles, let alone one thats timed… =/

A sign that you should give up and go away: when you’re consistently among the first of any group of people to fall down and die. (that would be me.) Looks like fun really is subjective.

Very happy that this won’t count towards the Emissary title.

I’ve been trying for 9 hours so far.
1. I’m an Asura and almost always fail at the beggining because of the other players (see pictures). 80% of my failure occure there. When I’m lucky enough to go through this part, I handle the thing very well, but the other players are an issue to me.
2. The wait at the begining is horrible (the one before you get warped to the puzzle), either make it faster or remove it completely, I waste so much time waiting it just doesn’t help the frustration, you just end up being very upset.
3. The ooze’s speed is fine, the zerg at the begining with all the other players is not.

Also, I’ve seen player suggesting me to do it with another character. But seems like the slippers are soulbound on acquire. So not only I’m screwed playing an Asura and being hidden by all the other players everytime I start this piece of junk food, but I can’t even give myself a little help by player another character because the reward would be soulbounded.

This fail in game design completely. I mean, the idea itself is great: timed jumping puzzle = good challenge.
But putting everybody together… It adds a layer of difficulty that doesn’t come from the puzzle itself, but from the other players in big armor. The source is extern. You might end with no norn at all and get an easy life or end up (like me) with 4 charr and 3 norn with you. It’s random.
Also, it just generates hate toward Charr/Norn players from the other because of this. The social aspect is affected. I’ve seen players getting really mad at them… And the fact you’re forced to wait just feed their frustration.

Admire this picture now:

Hey i thought this was perfectly fun. Stop being so bad. lol arthritis and joint pain as a reason people are not beating this event. Cmon hahahaha

You people need to stop complaining for things to be easier, you’re ruining it for me and other people who actually want some challenge in a game.

Yes i’ve failed many times but my friends and i had lots of fun doing it and when i finally made it it was even better.

So please ANET don’t listen to these whining people who don’t like a little challenge.

Trafalgar.5247:

1st, most of the people love the Clocktower Jumping Puzzle.

2nd, people complaining here are people who couldn’t finish the jumping puzzle and are frustrated….

3rd, it is not profession dependand, lol you guys, did it with my Guardian, 0 boosts, 0 speed boons/buff or whatsoever.

4th, I did it with lots of Charr and Norns, yes, it was annoying, but 100% doable, just concentrate on yourself

1) All evidence to the contrary
2) For good reason (camera bugs, glitches, being ported out, being forced to group, and more)
3) While you -may- have done it without speed buffs etc, the fact remains that those things -do- change how the jumps are made and speed buffs which effect players in the AoE will have their timing screwed up by them while those using them have a clear advantage at very specific points in the puzzle.
4) “Doable” (by a minority of players only) and “fun” are not the same things and it’s quite obvious a vast number of posts and comments about this subject are NOT one’s lauding how much “fun” and how “doable” this experience is for them. It is quite obviously just the opposite.

Ok dont use the word “fun”, cause you will never win an argument with it.

Sure , maybe it was not fun to YOU , but it was fun to ME. See there the problem?

Now , you could say the Clock Tower is too hard for casual.

I agree with you there , got on my 3 chars , but i still think for a non “gamer” person , that would be quite the feat , while for a “gamer” it took 1 hr max…

Jaap.6941:

You people need to stop complaining for things to be easier, you’re ruining it for me and other people who actually want some challenge in a game.

Yes i’ve failed many times but my friends and i had lots of fun doing it and when i finally made it i was even better.

So please ANET don’t listen to these whining people who don’t like a little challenge.

Contrary to myopic belief, it -is- possible to keep the difficulty and challenge -you- enjoy while allowing for other options for other players to also enjoy it as well while not effecting you personally in the least. It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing situation. But acknowledging this would mean stepping out of one’s ego-centric perspective.

I think this puzzle is doable, if you spend quite a vast amount of time with it.
Since jumping puzzles is the part in this game I am really bad at, it will take me siginficantly more time than others.
However; overall I want to have fun I have a family and other stuff to do, so I can’t spend 8 hours in a row with that puzzle, however I do care abount achievements.
You could keep this version as a hardcore version with special rewards and the title for those who are good at it and love this challenge.
And make a slightly nerved version maybe in a solo instance which counts for the mad king title, because it is really annoying to do all of the other halloween stuff and then not being award the title, because you are not good at jumping puzzles (and because Zelda and Super Mario was never my cup of tea).

mrsrachelm.7618:

Contrary to myopic belief, it -is- possible to keep the difficulty and challenge -you- enjoy while allowing for other options for other players to also enjoy it as well while not effecting you personally in the least. It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing situation. But acknowledging this would mean stepping out of one’s ego-centric perspective. [/quote]

Yes this was more of a rant, because i’m getting pretty tired of people who want everything to get handed to them, while using the buzzword ‘fun’. But this jumping puzzle is totally fine, ok the beginning (the zerg and all that) is kinda unfair sometimes maybe that can be fixed in a way.

Completed it last night after a few hours. Yea, it was annoying but so rewarding once I got it. Quit complaining. If you don’t want to do it, don’t. It’s about time a game put something difficult in. Everyone get’s handed everything on a silver platter now days.

It’s OBVIOUS that is IS possible to complete it. So quit whining.

To all those B*tching about the difficulty.

If you were around when games were actually a challaenge i can only imagin that woulda made u commited suicide, becouse this is nothing compared to back in the day.
Learn to play or ST*U seriosly. Stop ruining games forcing the devs to make them easier ..we need to move out of the past decade of EZMode games at some point -.-
Even if this is just 1 JP in a overall easy game, you STILL find the need to b*itch about it ..its sad.

Murdayne.3981:

Completed it last night after a few hours. Yea, it was annoying but so rewarding once I got it. Quit complaining. If you don’t want to do it, don’t. It’s about time a game put something difficult in. Everyone get’s handed everything on a silver platter now days.

It’s OBVIOUS that is IS possible to complete it. So quit whining.

SolarNova.1052:

To all those B*tching about the difficulty.

If you were around when games were actually a challaenge i can only imagin that woulda made u commited suicide, becouse this is nothing compared to back in the day.
Learn to play or ST*U seriosly. Stop ruining games forcing the devs to make them easier ..we need to move out of the past decade of EZMode games at some point -.-
Even if this is just 1 JP in a overall easy game, you STILL find the need to b*itch about it ..its sad.

And this is why we don’t need a merged thread, because people’s posts are going to get buried by things like this. The “you can’t have a legitimate concern because I don’t have one!” or as I put it last night “I’m selfish so if I have no issues then its just not possible for you to have them”

People want to do it solo. That’s not whining. If you think it is then you need to go look in the mirror to see a real whiner.

By the way the ‘when games were hard’ complaint? Which stupidly hard NES classic game would you like me to tell you, from memory, to finish?

Still trying it with my level 20 asuran elementalist with the 25 percent speed boost on air attunement. Got a bit further… but only was lucky. Now I’m having again problems…

Problem is that first wheel where you have to wait. All the players catch up and big group and I always have trouble with the next jumps and to see that wall parts. Others somehow always are faster… I tried to jump directly at wall and on small wheel first that comes next. But others still faster and hard to see anything there. Later it seemed easier. With a few tries and training at the later parts it should be possible with speed boost since you have a bit more time to time your jumps.

On the off chance that Anet is keeping some sort of statistical tally on the ratio of pro/anti clocktower opinions, I’ll register mine:

It’s great, don’t change it.

It’s tough, sure. I’m not great at platforming with a kb/mouse, and I had to give up on it several times, taking my frustrations out on candy corn elementals. Eventually I got it, and as a reward for my perserverance, I got some ugly boots and an achievement. I don’t see the big deal, you dont need to get it done to continue enjoying your life or this game.

I find it fun, but I do have one major issue. I plan an Asura. I can’t see anything if there is anything larger than a human nearby. Seriously. If everyone was the same size, I would have beaten it by now. It doesn’t help when models three times my size are standing on top of my character so I can’t see the edges of the platforms.

this post has been edited to remove a violation of the forum code of conduct

I myself have multiple issues with disabilities and believe me ive not completed it not once and i agree it is or can be very frustrating as others have said though it is an extra thing to do it is not required no one is forcing anyone by gunpoint to constantly run the tower. But also at the same time as an avid gamer what type of game is this? It is an mmo and imo the mmo aspects should be the harder part of the game not the jumping puzzles. I believe while most want a challenge ok i agree there as well, butpve pvp should be challenging and the little extra stuff that doesnt really require much like these puzzles or just running around gather should be the way you can relax and just play and what have you. then if the more advanced or skilled or whatever want a more challenging jumping puzzle give them a harder version like these testing fights easy medium and hard type thing that way everybody wins. Just try to be patient and dont try to sit and run it over and over for long periods

Moose.2356:

I myself have multiple issues with disabilities and believe me ive not completed it not once and i agree it is or can be very frustrating as others have said though it is an extra thing to do it is not required no one is forcing anyone by gunpoint to constantly run the tower. But also at the same time as an avid gamer what type of game is this? It is an mmo and imo the mmo aspects should be the harder part of the game not the jumping puzzles. I believe while most want a challenge ok i agree there as well, butpve pvp should be challenging and the little extra stuff that doesnt really require much like these puzzles or just running around gather should be the way you can relax and just play and what have you. then if the more advanced or skilled or whatever want a more challenging jumping puzzle give them a harder version like these testing fights easy medium and hard type thing that way everybody wins. Just try to be patient and dont try to sit and run it over and over for long periods

If the MMO aspects should be the challenging parts, why was your post so challenging to read? I don’t want a boss fight when I go onto the forums.

Sorry I disagree. The Clock Tower was a blast. I had such fun. Best time I have had in this game… honestly. Not all of the audience agrees with this. I think it is only the people that don’t get how to complete it that are complaining the most. People that enjoyed it have gone on to other things and aren’t voicing their enjoyment about it.

But I wanted to come back and congratulate ANet on a really awesome addition to the game and an exciting experience. Thanks.

I’d just like to say two things.

First, I freaking hate the clock tower. I love jumping challenges, but NOT with a time limit. I went in there yesterday, tried it out, failed in kittendo manners a bunch of times and said “Hell with this”

Second, I’m perfectly fine with not doing it. It’s not required for the achievements or anything, so who cares? Leave it there for the masochists who actually like this kind of ancient game design.

All these people pulling the ‘disability’ card. Seriosly. .you play the cards life deals you. Suck it up.
Im Dyslexic but i dont let that get in the way of my communication online, i’ve adapted. .i may mispell word.s .miss out letters now and then but peple stil lknow what im saying.
My old man is getitng on a bit and has arthritis in his hand ..HE plays GW2 ..he doesnt complain.

Hell if you have such a bad disability should you really be playing a game that hinders you so much ? Cant expect the world ot bend around you.

Adapt or be left behind ..thats life.

Funny how one misstep can swing an election away from a candidate. Funny how one mega annoying jumping puzzle can swing a long time fan away from Anet.

And the guy above me, he bases his self worth on his mouse clicking ability and his computer setup. It appears the only way he can feel good about his life is that he has a better computer than most and can can complete a horrendous jumping puzzle most people can’t.

irinawds.9627:

A merged thread so legitimate concerns can be buried. How lovely.

Kinda what I was thinking as well. For a short content event like a Holiday event, I seriously doubt they are going to put too much care into what players think…only on what may or may not effect their bottom line. I can only imagine what a Winterfest type event will be like. [shudder] :P

I think that it should be a solo instance.

Katz.5143:

I suggest that if you can’t complete it and it is causing you extreme frustration, just pretend it doesn’t exist and tell your gaming buddies to never speak of it again in your presence. Works for me.

LOL! I love this! Works for me too actually. I’m not even going to bother with this puzzle, at least not this year. Just not worth the level of hassle to me.

Well, I tried it for 3 hours or so yesterday but couldn’t make it. Guess my reflexes aren’t what they used to be now that I’m 37?

Add onto that Warriors that intentionally try to grief others! They can bring banners in with them and I’ve actually seen them running ahead of the group only to wait near a tricky jump and use their banner #3 (Inspire) just before other people are attempting the jump.

So next to having trouble seeing where I should be jumping because of bigger character models blocking my view (and a FOV centered on your back isn’t helping either), I now have to run it with warriors that find it funny to use their banners and give speedboosts to people when they least expect it.

If anything, ANet should push out a hotfix so that banners are removed upon entry to the tower in my opinion.

SolarNova.1052:

To all those B*tching about the difficulty.

If you were around when games were actually a challaenge i can only imagin that woulda made u commited suicide, becouse this is nothing compared to back in the day.
Learn to play or ST*U seriosly. Stop ruining games forcing the devs to make them easier ..we need to move out of the past decade of EZMode games at some point -.-
Even if this is just 1 JP in a overall easy game, you STILL find the need to b*itch about it ..its sad.

What I hear: “When I was your age I had to carry water in a leaky bucket uphill both ways after having to first chip a hole in the ice on the lake with a toothpick and walk in eight feet of snow barefoot. YOU don’t know how hard -I- had it young whippersnapper….blah blah blah”.

;-P

I really like the clock tower from a design point of view, its pretty awesome the first time I saw it and tried it out.

One thing that might be missing. I dont know if its there or not I havnt seen it. I think there should be some sort of indication of when someone in my group completes the clocktower. Maybe one of the npcs says something, maybe the clock tower chimes, maybe some text flashes across my screen.

After numerous attempts and more than a few hours of my life I will never get back. I dont like the decision to have more than just myself in the instance. I cant see through other characters and they distract me even if I can see around them.

I absolutely hate the camera in this game. For some reason if I get within a certain distance of any solid object the camera freaks out , most of the time it ends up in my characters body. No matter where it ends up it screws up my ability to properly judge a jump.

Anyway those are my 2 major issues with the jumping puzzle. Also, I though this game was built on inclusion not exclusion?

I can do other jumping puzzles where I dont have to do them with other people and I can take all the time I need. I guess I am just getting too old for this game. I dont have the coordination or the reaction time I had when I was younger.

Even though I hope I can complete this jumping puzzle, I am glad I dont have too for the main achievement and title.

Fact: the number of pissed off players will only increase if the puzzle isn’t changed to a psuedo-solo or solo instance. This is the PRIMARY reason why everyone is mad.

My main is an asura, I cannot even see my character when doing the jumps, so it’s 100% guess work!

Festive events are supposed to be fun, and this is anything but fun.

Parvati.5780:

My main is an asura, I cannot even see my character when doing the jumps, so it’s 100% guess work!

Festive events are supposed to be fun, and this is anything but fun.

So dont do this only do the festive stuff headdesk

Tower was fun for me and my guild. We had a blast and when I finally got it I felt a great accomplished. I even cheered out load where my wife was wondering what just happened and so looked up and just saw me standing in a room.

I was the 3rd from my guild to do it. First was an Asura, then a Char and now me a Norn.

The tower is fine

UnderdogSMO.9428:

Parvati.5780:

My main is an asura, I cannot even see my character when doing the jumps, so it’s 100% guess work!

Festive events are supposed to be fun, and this is anything but fun.

So dont do this only do the festive stuff headdesk

So you’re saying that because a puzzle is badly thought out and badly implemented that I should stop trying to complete the Halloween event? I don’t think so.

Rainfall.4017:

Then the simple, blunt answer is that you just won’t be able to complete it. All content does not come with a pre requisite that it must be able to be done by anyone no matter what. As others have noted in this thread, it’s very doable. Nerfing it would make it trivial. This is a learning process, but if after 5 hours you aren’t nearly completing it, or progressing, then it just isn’t for you.

This is a really really really bad attitude to take. Sorry, but, uh, yeah, everything should be able to be completed by 100% of the playerbase. If you cater to a small crowd of blowhards who insist everything must be difficult and can only be achieved through hours of grinding, a huge majority of players become disillusioned with the game.

If they don’t find the game fun, they stop playing. When they stop playing, they aren’t supporting the game through expansion purchases or gem store goods. And what should be more relaxed and fun than a simple holiday event?

I mean, I haven’t tried Reaper Rumble yet (couldn’t get into it for some reason), but Lunatic Inquisition is pretty much one of the most fun things I’ve done in this game.

Roctod.7290:

Rainfall.4017:

Then the simple, blunt answer is that you just won’t be able to complete it. All content does not come with a pre requisite that it must be able to be done by anyone no matter what. As others have noted in this thread, it’s very doable. Nerfing it would make it trivial. This is a learning process, but if after 5 hours you aren’t nearly completing it, or progressing, then it just isn’t for you.

This is a really really really bad attitude to take. Sorry, but, uh, yeah, everything should be able to be completed by 100% of the playerbase. If you cater to a small crowd of blowhards who insist everything must be difficult and can only be achieved through hours of grinding, a huge majority of players become disillusioned with the game.

If they don’t find the game fun, they stop playing. When they stop playing, they aren’t supporting the game through expansion purchases or gem store goods. And what should be more relaxed and fun than a simple holiday event?

Agree 100%.

Difficulty is not the problem, the fact that numerous amounts of people have been able to accomplish it says so. However , there are certain things that do make it unnecessarily more difficult. The character models do cause obstruction of view which has caused me and numerous people deaths. Especially when its around 10-12 ppl trying to run it. The amount of ppl also cause performance issues. I have to drop to the lowest settings because if not I won’t get the frame rate to do so. I don’t believe the difficulty should be tweak but I do believe you should be able to run the instance solo.