Guild Wars 2

So, the new addition to current events for Caladbolg inspired me to go back and do the HoT storyline again. This is nothing new, but honestly ANet your QC is amateur night. Just to name a few instances of “Who thought this was a good idea?” that seem to indicate a complete lack of pre-release testing:

In “The Jungle Provides”, why does Tizlak walk so slowly and if you move so much as a few steps ahead of him he will pause and hold up story progress? At the same time, if you try to shadow him he will repeatedly stop and wait for you, even though you’re standing right next to him so that no matter what you do it takes an obnoxiously long time to do this chapter simply because of Tizlak’s movement? Who thought this was a good idea? Seriously!

How about on the final fight with Mordremoth? Did it never occur to anyone in QC that it might be a good idea to either place the instance exit somewhere other than smack dab in the middle of the small platform we fight him on or at least disable the exit dialogue so that we don’t spend the majority of the fight with our view blocked by a “Yes/No?” dialogue box? Really guys?

Speaking of dialogue boxes. Did you know you forgot to put one on the updrafts so that players end up scrambling through, jumping into, and ultimately just dying instead of being able to take to the air to avoid the auto-death mechanics of the fight? If like every other interact-able object in the game they popped up the box prompting you to push your interact keybind, a lot of frustration could have been avoided.

There are just tons more bugs and oversights like this just in the HoT storyline. I hope in future you will take a little more time to QC these things so that you don’t ruin what might have been a perfectly good storyline with endless annoyances.

LoL Insult to injury! I just ended up having to redo “The Jungle Provides” (and watch helplessly again as Tizlak did the slow walk across Verdant Brink!) because apparently there is a bug during the part where you pop the mordrem blisters where if you happen to be standing next to them when the breachers spawn, they can stick you inside the ground. At that point you’re unable to move to complete the story chapter and are forced to log out and restart from the beginning! Fun!

The “must stay close to NPC” behaviour you describe is one of the two standard modes; Tybalt does the same thing in the whispers personal story. Also, they usually move at standard walking pace, which is now way, way below the standard movement rate of players, because speed boosting traits.

Also, I’m pretty sure that you don’t need to interact to catch the updrafts, just walk into them. Sadly, though, WALK is required, not jump, and that screws people up. It’s as designed though…

Also, they usually move at standard walking pace, which is now way, way below the standard movement rate of players, because speed boosting traits.

even without speed boosting traits etc, they still move painfully slow compared to the player. their standard moving speed is somewhere between player walk and player run speeds without boosts. always has been.

nottsgman.8206:

Also, they usually move at standard walking pace, which is now way, way below the standard movement rate of players, because speed boosting traits.

even without speed boosting traits etc, they still move painfully slow compared to the player. their standard moving speed is somewhere between player walk and player run speeds without boosts. always has been.

My condi mesmer disargees.

AliamRationem.5172:

How about on the final fight with Mordremoth? Did it never occur to anyone in QC that it might be a good idea to either place the instance exit somewhere other than smack dab in the middle of the small platform we fight him on or at least disable the exit dialogue so that we don’t spend the majority of the fight with our view blocked by a “Yes/No?” dialogue box? Really guys?

I have gone through H&M around 14 times now and I have no idea what dialog you are referring to. Generally exit instance dialogs don’t show up until the instance is complete. You might want to elaborate on what you are referring to. The exit instance button on the bottom right does show up if you are redoing for achievements but that is off to the side.

Speaking of dialogue boxes. Did you know you forgot to put one on the updrafts so that players end up scrambling through, jumping into, and ultimately just dying instead of being able to take to the air to avoid the auto-death mechanics of the fight? If like every other interact-able object in the game they popped up the box prompting you to push your interact keybind, a lot of frustration could have been avoided.

Hmm I do remember seeing those but I feel like they messed up the timing. Instead of having the spouts spawn as soon as the phase starts they don’t spawn until after the speaking is done and you have about 2 seconds to look around for the spouts and run into one. That is cutting things a bit too close. There is one that always spawns near the NPCs but that doesn’t feel like a great justification for that timing.

Khisanth.2948:

AliamRationem.5172:

Speaking of dialogue boxes. Did you know you forgot to put one on the updrafts so that players end up scrambling through, jumping into, and ultimately just dying instead of being able to take to the air to avoid the auto-death mechanics of the fight? If like every other interact-able object in the game they popped up the box prompting you to push your interact keybind, a lot of frustration could have been avoided.

Hmm I do remember seeing those but I feel like they messed up the timing. Instead of having the spouts spawn as soon as the phase starts they don’t spawn until after the speaking is done and you have about 2 seconds to look around for the spouts and run into one. That is cutting things a bit too close. There is one that always spawns near the NPCs but that doesn’t feel like a great justification for that timing.

Having just completed this, and gosh was that just some fun, I was never more than two dodge rolls away from an updraft, thank goodness. You are able to avoid the ground effect using those, so perhaps save your dodges?

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Khisanth.2948:

AliamRationem.5172:

Speaking of dialogue boxes. Did you know you forgot to put one on the updrafts so that players end up scrambling through, jumping into, and ultimately just dying instead of being able to take to the air to avoid the auto-death mechanics of the fight? If like every other interact-able object in the game they popped up the box prompting you to push your interact keybind, a lot of frustration could have been avoided.

Hmm I do remember seeing those but I feel like they messed up the timing. Instead of having the spouts spawn as soon as the phase starts they don’t spawn until after the speaking is done and you have about 2 seconds to look around for the spouts and run into one. That is cutting things a bit too close. There is one that always spawns near the NPCs but that doesn’t feel like a great justification for that timing.

Having just completed this, and gosh was that just some fun, I was never more than two dodge rolls away from an updraft, thank goodness. You are able to avoid the ground effect using those, so perhaps save your dodges?

That reminds me … the ground’s damage ignores invulnerability too.

Khisanth.2948:

I have gone through H&M around 14 times now and I have no idea what dialog you are referring to. Generally exit instance dialogs don’t show up until the instance is complete. You might want to elaborate on what you are referring to. The exit instance button on the bottom right does show up if you are redoing for achievements but that is off to the side.

That’s odd. There’s no way you could possibly miss it and it’s not a one-time thing for me. I have done the fight many times and every single time it’s happened. You know how you walk close to a storyline exit marker when you’re in a story instance and it pulls up a dialogue box asking if you want to leave the instance, with two buttons “Yes” and “No”? That’s what I’m talking about. Every time I fight Mordremoth I spend most of the fight with that stupid box blocking my view. The exit is located centrally on the platform, and you don’t have to be very close to it to get the box.

Another apparent discrepancy are the updrafts. I’ve had this discussion a bunch of times. Walking into the updrafts simply doesn’t do anything for me. Yet others who have done the fight many times swear that it works this way. Yet if I walk over to them, stand in them, then push interact it immediately launches me into the air.

I have no idea how it’s possible that we could have such different experiences, but as I said I’ve done the fight a bunch of times helping friends with it. Perhaps it makes a difference whether it’s your instance? I don’t think I’ve done the fight in my own instance in almost a year, but I help other players with it plenty (just yesterday, in fact).

I don’t even get that exit prompt even after defeating mordremoth and that prompt should only ever show up after the instance is complete anyway.

As for the updrafts … I had one very weird run. First flight phase okay. Second flight phase okay. Third flight phase … doesn’t work. Repeated that several times and it kept happening.

I haven’t done Hearts and Minds a bunch of times, but I’ve never seen this ‘exit dialogue’. I’ve done it both as the ‘owner’ of the instance, and not as the ‘owner’. Never seen an interact prompt for the updrafts, either.

Have you considered a -repair of the client? Just a thought. Or discussing it with the CS Team?

Good luck.

The only time I’ve had a problem with the Exit Instance in H&M is when I group up with someone else and don’t have the mission active in my journal.

Sartharina.3542:

The only time I’ve had a problem with the Exit Instance in H&M is when I group up with someone else and don’t have the mission active in my journal.

That could be it. As the character I help out with has already completed the story, I wouldn’t have the mission active in my story journal. In any event, it sure is annoying! I will try activating the mission next time and see if it stops doing that. But still, it sure is an annoying “feature”.

AliamRationem.5172:

Sartharina.3542:

The only time I’ve had a problem with the Exit Instance in H&M is when I group up with someone else and don’t have the mission active in my journal.

That could be it. As the character I help out with has already completed the story, I wouldn’t have the mission active in my story journal. In any event, it sure is annoying! I will try activating the mission next time and see if it stops doing that. But still, it sure is an annoying “feature”.

…and this may actually be the information anet require to solve the problem! Figuring out how to reproduce it is definitely the hardest part of fixing many of these issues, especially because I, like most people, and probably like the devs, would not have guessed at that combination to trigger it!

I’ve played the instance both ways, with the Story active, and with the Story not-active (grouped up with others), and I’ve never seen the dialog/screen for exiting.

AliamRationem.5172:

Sartharina.3542:

The only time I’ve had a problem with the Exit Instance in H&M is when I group up with someone else and don’t have the mission active in my journal.

That could be it. As the character I help out with has already completed the story, I wouldn’t have the mission active in my story journal. In any event, it sure is annoying! I will try activating the mission next time and see if it stops doing that. But still, it sure is an annoying “feature”.

Are you referring to the one thing that looks like this?

At least you can get in H&M to be disappointed in it, I can’t even see the instance node to get into it despite having the chapter active and I’ve checked multiple youtubes of people doing it so I know I’m in the right spot

Other.1037:

At least you can get in H&M to be disappointed in it, I can’t even see the instance node to get into it despite having the chapter active and I’ve checked multiple youtubes of people doing it so I know I’m in the right spot

You are aware it’s not in Dragon’s Stand, but in Dragon’s Stand (Heart of Thorns), yes? You have to speak to the NPC at the entrance to Dragon’s Stand to enter the special area/map.

No offense if you are aware, of course. Good luck.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Other.1037:

At least you can get in H&M to be disappointed in it, I can’t even see the instance node to get into it despite having the chapter active and I’ve checked multiple youtubes of people doing it so I know I’m in the right spot

You are aware it’s not in Dragon’s Stand, but in Dragon’s Stand (Heart of Thorns), yes? You have to speak to the NPC at the entrance to Dragon’s Stand to enter the special area/map.

No offense if you are aware, of course. Good luck.

The name of the NPC is Agent Zrii, she’s a little asuran so she’s easy to miss.

Thanks; I couldn’t remember her exact name, and thought I would take the time/effort to look it up if asked.

Just getting too old and feeble. Lol.

that anet doesn’t have any kind of testing group we’ve known for years. The game would look very different if they had like a testing realm (or something)

Amaimon.7823:

that anet doesn’t have any kind of testing group we’ve known for years. The game would look very different if they had like a testing realm (or something)

https://www.arena.net/ — no current job openings in the QA department, but they have one. Perhaps you would like to restart your thesis?

We do?

I’m pretty sure the Devs reference their testing group(s), and even advertise openings for it/them at times. I know I signed up for it. This is in addition to their QA department.

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Amaimon.7823:

that anet doesn’t have any kind of testing group we’ve known for years. The game would look very different if they had like a testing realm (or something)

https://www.arena.net/ — no current job openings in the QA department, but they have one. Perhaps you would like to restart your thesis?

I stand corrected:
that anet doesn’t have any kind of testing group that shows up at work we’ve known for years. The game would look very different if they had like a testing realm (or something)

Here you go: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Interested-in-Local-Playtesting-for-ArenaNet/first#post4975010

Here’s a bit of the copy for signing up:

‘Welcome to ArenaNet playtest! ArenaNet is committed to creating a great experience for our players and we are in need of volunteer playtest participants to participate in future playtest studies. Your opinion and experiences can help us shape the best possible experiences. We are currently looking for volunteer playtest participants that are over the age of 18 and live in the Greater Seattle area and are legal US residents. If you do not live in the Seattle area, feel free to sign-up as we may expand our studies to other areas in the future.’

Good luck.

Amaimon.7823:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Amaimon.7823:

that anet doesn’t have any kind of testing group we’ve known for years. The game would look very different if they had like a testing realm (or something)

https://www.arena.net/ — no current job openings in the QA department, but they have one. Perhaps you would like to restart your thesis?

I stand corrected:
that anet doesn’t have any kind of testing group that shows up at work we’ve known for years. The game would look very different if they had like a testing realm (or something)

You have no idea about this. Here’s some food for thought.

http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2415-the-ridiculous-tedious-world-video-game-testing.html?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=NV&utm_campaign=NV

Edit: It’s all about budget and release schedules not about a preconceived idea about how buggy something is/should be.

Vayne.8563:

Amaimon.7823:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

Amaimon.7823:

that anet doesn’t have any kind of testing group we’ve known for years. The game would look very different if they had like a testing realm (or something)

https://www.arena.net/ — no current job openings in the QA department, but they have one. Perhaps you would like to restart your thesis?

I stand corrected:
that anet doesn’t have any kind of testing group that shows up at work we’ve known for years. The game would look very different if they had like a testing realm (or something)

You have no idea about this. Here’s some food for thought.

http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2415-the-ridiculous-tedious-world-video-game-testing.html?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=NV&utm_campaign=NV

Edit: It’s all about budget and release schedules not about a preconceived idea about how buggy something is/should be.

What an interesting read (and some of the other gaming articles there). Thanks for the link. =)