Guild Wars 2

I gave up quick on the Clocktower, but this one was easier for me to stick to and I got ‘er done. Since I finished it I can say I liked it even though it made me yell “kitten” several times. Like a lot of people I thought that just getting past the first row of steam jet platforms was all there was. I didn’t expect the puzzle to be that long. When I saw that second line of them over the ledge I had to take a twenty minute break. Fortunately that part was easier as was the rest of the way.
Fun puzzle (once finished) and I stuck around on the end island to kill the champ with people twice. thumbs up

I haven’t done this one yet but I look forward to it. The other jp was very nice.

Clark Skinner.4902:

Do you also pass along to the designer when users say it makes them want to jump off a cliff in real life?

Feels more like a chore or a punishment than a leisure activity.

You know what is the best thing about jumping puzzles? They are completely optional.

That said, I loved Skipping Stones. After some fumbling around, started casting Signet of Rage to give myself 30 seconds of swiftness so the buffs cast by other people at random times didn’t affect me. Also helps the time limit, to go 33% faster through the air.

It was pretty fun. Was easy once I figured out how it worked.
there’s also a bonus little chest if you go past the gold chest.

A mesmer can drop from the platform that the chest is on to the rocks below and survive with the half fall trait, my mesmer did it with 1000 hp or so left, and successfully port people up for the chest and to fight the champ. Find a decent mesmer, problem solved.

A couple of friendly mesmers in my overflow helped people by portaling them up to the safe ledges so they wouldn’t have to start from the very beginning again.

I randomly died near the end of this puzzle just now. Was running along the long stretch of platforms running along the side of the cliff before the first chest and suddenly died for no reason. Combat log shows no damage from any source.

I liked this one, wasnt too hard, but was very interesting idea.

Clobimon.9652:

I gave up quick on the Clocktower, but this one was easier for me to stick to and I got ‘er done. Since I finished it I can say I liked it even though it made me yell “kitten” several times. Like a lot of people I thought that just getting past the first row of steam jet platforms was all there was. I didn’t expect the puzzle to be that long. When I saw that second line of them over the ledge I had to take a twenty minute break. Fortunately that part was easier as was the rest of the way.
Fun puzzle (once finished) and I stuck around on the end island to kill the champ with people twice. thumbs up

And if more people got a similar attitude to the Clocktower, we wouldn’t have so many people claiming it’s impossible, broken and not fun – if something’s challenging, it’s meant to be so, so that it’s even more rewarding once you’re done. And if you decide to give up, it’s not the design’s fault – unless really no one can beat it for a longer while, but we time and again, with each part of the game, get enough proofs that everything is doable and fun. If you have the right attitude, that is.

I have all other jps done, including the Clocktower, and i consider myself a decent platformer, but Skipping Stones took me almost an hour. An hour well spent, and well rewarded (with fun and sense of accomplishment, not loot!), i must say.

This may help some of you having trouble with it

Braxxis.7062:

Ombar.3469:

I’m having the same trouble with this JP as with clock tower (other players). I’d be happy to wait until there are fewer people but I’m worried about the champ at the end. Is he solo-able?

The champ at the end is after the jumping puzzle, on the island across the way. You can get there by jumping across the wooden planks on the other side of the boat.

You don’t have to ever encounter that mob if you choose not to. It’s just guarding a second regular chest.

It is also possible to jump up on the hill behind the champion and avoid him completely. A guildmate and I wound up doing that instead of going the easier path (cause we didn’t see it).

I have one complaint/suggestion on the puzzle.

The white mist from the geysers blinds me so I have trouble seeing the platforms in the geyser parts. I turned off post processing and it did help some, but it was still glaring to me and felt as a source of artificial difficulty.

I feel the puzzle could have been challenging in a fun way without the visibility problems.

Reminded me a bit of the Mad King’s clock Tower….just less infuriating.

It felt relatively fair although being a Mesmer always feels like cheating.

AtriustheGod.6785:

We just killed the champ and opened the chest. All blues -.-

Loot in this game is disappointing like that. Champ wiped our 4 man group, but luckily a few more came and kept the fight going, rezzed us, and we finished. Then we got our sub-par loot.

It was a lot of fun though (besides the loot—who decides this crappy drop rate for Champions?). A bit easy for the jumping elite though. Need more Metrica-like ones with traps =)

drkn.3429:

And if more people got a similar attitude to the Clocktower, we wouldn’t have so many people claiming it’s impossible, broken and not fun – if something’s challenging, it’s meant to be so, so that it’s even more rewarding once you’re done. And if you decide to give up, it’s not the design’s fault – unless really no one can beat it for a longer while, but we time and again, with each part of the game, get enough proofs that everything is doable and fun. If you have the right attitude, that is.

For me reward from challenge depends on the nature of the challenge. If the challenge is derived from intelligent AI that is still bound by the same rules you are, or timing/precision/player skill/strategy, that’s rewarding.

If the challenge is based on things like, not being able to see clearly what’s going on (bad UI or graphics display problems/framerate drops, clipping, intense bloom, objects obstructing view), lousy controls, or AI that is dumb but relies on instantaneous reaction timing and aim, that’s not fun.

IE if you’re playing an FPS against Bots and you round a corner behind the bot and the instantly turn around and headshot you faster than you can blink.. that’s not fun challenge, that feels like artificial challenge.

Also, I’ve been playing Dark Souls lately, and that game has redefined what I see as a rewarding challenge now. As in GW2, you have to manually defend yourself if you want to survive, ie dodge, block, use heals at the right time, etc.

But a couple things Dark Souls does that GW2 doesn’t that make DS a little more rewarding. GW2 DOES have mobs that actively dodge and block, however, you know they’re limited on their blocking, so you just wait out their blocking stance for a few seconds and then wail on them. DS, they don’t have a cooldown on it, so they’ll raise their shield quickly and frequently, and avoid attacks by rolling out of the way, or backstepping. Not only that, but they will also actively parry you, leaving you wide open for their counterattack, which will now be a critical attack and do huge damage.. Parrying is a key strategy for the player to use as well because of the free crit attack, I had no idea the NPC’s could behave like a player and utilize that move. On that subject, in GW2, if you dodge, there’s a FEW traits out there that give you a benefit for evading, but in DS, when you dodge roll behind your oppnent, not only do you save yourself from taking damage, but you’re behind them and get a free critical backstab. If you parry an incoming attack, you throw off their defenses and get a free critical hit., these hits are signified by a slow motion “kill cam” shot sequence. Not only that, but killing an enemy in such a way rewards more souls (exp/currency) than simply swinging your weapon at them till they die.

So let’s break that down…

You’re rewarded for properly defending yourself by getting a huge damage boost on your next attack, which is shown to you in a slow mo quick cam, and it rewards you in more exp/currency. Then to boot, if it’s a very difficult enemy, you are guaranteed something useful as a drop, independent of the chance based item drop they may also have for you. In a black knight’s case, they drop an item used to upgrade a weapon of your choice, very useful. They may also be blocking the way to a chest, killing them gives you access to the chest with some valuable item inside.

GW2 however.. you’re not rewarded for playing more skillfully, you’re just not punished. When you dodge, your only reward is not dying, and that’s if this attack would have killed you outright. You won’t get any more reward for dodging, you won’t deal extra damage for dodging, there’s no fancy/rewarding animation that makes you feel like a BAMF. Jumping puzzles as well.. the only real reward for jumping puzzles most times is just the achievement, which is largely an intrinsic reward. The loot from the chests is pretty bad.

When I completed skipping stones… between a combination of the artificial difficulty of the blinding white mist, and the lack of anything good in the chest… I didn’t feel proud or accomplished, I only felt relieved that it was over and I’d never have to do it again. Not a good feeling to be leaving a challenge with.

Having staggered through the first day flat out hating every second of it & the second day trying to grab in a rush what was patched, still was a chore, the second phase was a nice change.

Although I never saw any Karka or wtk was meant to appear in the start of the event & I saw a partial catapult being built (facing the wrong way?) after the whole server trying to find what we were meant to be doing, then things improved.

The new zone, albeit smallish, looks great. Nice new mobs, which can damage my poor Ele` in almost two hits are a nice challenge & the puzzles. Skipping stones one wass fun, in a masochistic way (camera problems at times, but standard…) & the Pearl puzzle… Nice!

Nice recovery Arenanet et al, enjoyed this zone lots

I like this thread, so I’ll pile on my thanks as well. It’s an amazing looking zone, the jump puzzle was a blast.

Well done!

I have to say, this was a fun concept, but a few tweaks would make it perfect. The main problem I had with it was the aspect of “Getting A right, screwing up B, having to do A all over again.” I hate redoing stuff I’ve already done. In this case, the jump puzzle is in four parts, the Geyser chain A, the Geyser chain B on the other side, the cliff hopping to the ship C, and the hopping to the other island with the Champion Reefer D, right? If you screw any of those elements up then you have to do A all over again, B too.

I’m not a hug fan of timed jumps in the first place, but I can deal with them, I just prefer puzzles more like Spekk’s Lab, where there are milestones that allow you to continue from a given point, rather than having to redo the stuff you’ve already done right.

With that in mind, I would love to see waypoints added to this puzzle. They could be phased elements that a single player can unlock to give himself a return trip to a given checkpoint. Maybe you drop a vine down to the ground, maybe you cap a geyser at the top that unlocks another geyser on the ground that launches you all the way to the top.

These routes would basically make it so that if you reached the top of the chain A, where it’s stable, you can activate this thing, and for the next half hour or so it would allow you to teleport back up there if you fell. Then, once you pass Geysers B, you could do the same, allowing you to teleport back to the top if you fell on the cliffs portion. Really even just the A teleport would be plenty.

The fun is in the challenge of each discrete segment, forcing players to redo segments they’ve already accomplished just leads to frustration.

That video saved me, thanks! Not that I got up at all neatly, but eventually I did make it when I never could manage the lowest part of the puzzle.

I do like Ohoni’s idea of immersive ways to make checkpoints. Perhaps they could reset in some way after a bit of time or when you log out? The vine you dropped could rot and fray, etc. That way you get to bypass the parts you just finished but if you come back much later you have to redo it all.

Oh god this puzzle is good. For the first 20 minutes I toiled, got frustrated and swore my kitten off (which will all be in my youtube video posted tomorrow sometime!). My heart was beating, I was kicking myself at missing easy jumps…it felt just like the clocktower all over again. Finding out there was a second set of stepping stones….agony. Went for a break, came back refreshed.

Third try I made it to the second set….fell down into stack and got stuck! Found a way out and to a place where I couldnt get knocked off. Jumped, my way to a point where I could get back on the stones…fell off onto the stack, jumped some more, got a little lucky with a jump or two and made it. Got lost up top, eventually stumbled my way around to the chest…sheer joy.

This puzzle is simple in design but also challenging… but not so much so that youre spending hours on it. It was a joy to complete it so I tip my hat to the designer and ask that he/she/they make more jumping puzzles in the future. From what ive seen so far we’ve got some great puzzles to look forward to.

Hardest one since the halloween one, yet not as frustrating. I really enjoyed it. It took several tries, but a lot of fun. Two thumbs up for the designer

I didn’t really enjoy it if I’m honest. Jumping in GW2 is kind of awkward and cumbersome at times, so having a panicky time frame (those geysers) coupled with having to start from the beginning if you fell made it really frustrating. Ohoni’s suggestions above would really make a world of difference for these long complicated jumping puzzles.

I completed it eventually, but I’d rather have my legs eaten by a Karka than have to go through it again. I was playing as a mesmer so I was suddenly everyone’s best friend

Puzzle is a lot easier than people make it out to be. There are a few safe spots along the geysers that you can jump back to if you don’t quite make it. Overall, great design, it’s nice to see puzzles that throw something extra into the simple jump from point to point and that don’t have monsters to fight every few feet.

I’ll start this by saying… I love the jumping puzzles in this game. Mad King’s Clocktower was soooo frustrating and yet soooo satisfying when you beat it.

This was similar only without the “ohmygod, I only have a limited time to beat this so I need to do it NOW NOW NOW weep” factor. Which I think helped to take a little of the stress away and helped me get through it a bit faster.

And while the rewards weren’t “omgamazeballs”, I think this is a fun challenge for those of us who like this sort of thing. Thank you!

Fallensbane.8420:

This may help some of you having trouble with it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIjxxXXk320

Hahaha I remember being in game (you can see me in the background, the sylvari watching the person do this) and thinking kitten that’s clever – then a charr ran up next to me and told me to follow him… which I did and he opened up a portal near the end part (you can see it at the end of the video clip) lol

I did manage to complete it myself the next time though – it was good fun

yes this jumping puzzle is absolutely awesome

first the fractals and now this… some quality stuff being released

DaKenster.5801:

A mesmer can drop from the platform that the chest is on to the rocks below and survive with the half fall trait, my mesmer did it with 1000 hp or so left, and successfully port people up for the chest and to fight the champ. Find a decent mesmer, problem solved.

Jink Bonestealer.9274:

A couple of friendly mesmers in my overflow helped people by portaling them up to the safe ledges so they wouldn’t have to start from the very beginning again.

Anet should ban people for this kind of cheating.

DaKenster.5801:

A mesmer can drop from the platform that the chest is on to the rocks below and survive with the half fall trait, my mesmer did it with 1000 hp or so left, and successfully port people up for the chest and to fight the champ. Find a decent mesmer, problem solved.

Jink Bonestealer.9274:

A couple of friendly mesmers in my overflow helped people by portaling them up to the safe ledges so they wouldn’t have to start from the very beginning again.

Anet should ban people for this kind of cheating.

I would be very surprised if people started getting banned for helping other players out. While it is a cheat, it doesn’t affect anything other than a players personal enjoyment out of the puzzle. As mentioned so many times, the loot is really not worth it. And the only real reward is beating the puzzle on your own.

Looking at it from the mesmers perspective, would you really want to wait around for a hour until enough people finished the jumping puzzle so you can defeat the champion?

Just a reminder.. the puzzle would have been better without the blinding white mist on the geysers.

Timed jumping puzzle with moving platforms = fun
Timed jumping puzzle with moving platforms you can’t see = not fun

Ixillius.5768:

As mentioned so many times, the loot is really not worth it. And the only real reward is beating the puzzle on your own.

Then why people are cheating?

Ixillius.5768:

Looking at it from the mesmers perspective, would you really want to wait around for a hour until enough people finished the jumping puzzle so you can defeat the champion?

Please, you can get a chest while distracting champion with clones. And as you already said, loot isn’t worth it.

While I agree that Anet isn’t going to ban them, I would love to see both mesmers and unskilled scavengers being banned.

I loved this puzzle. It was an absolute blast to do. at first it was just me over there trying with one person then the servers got a new build and i was in a different overflow with 20 people there which made it a little more difficult since i am so tiny on my short little guy but i managed to get over the frustration and just take a breath and get through it no problem. Was just me and two other people who made it to the end. Waited for more but no one arrived so i was wandering around up there and discovered we could get over to the little island by going through/across the wreckage and found a champ. Well they got killed pretty fast and i avoided death barely. Just couldnt get to res them because they were directly underneath.

Was a blast and thanks to whoever made that puzzle. I might actually do it again today just for fun.

This was really easy compared to Clock Tower, completed it at second try.

Despite that, it’s always funny to complete new JP’s, it’s what I enjoy the most in GW2, keep going Anet!

I helped alot of people find their way onto the puzzle about halfway along, avoiding most of the vents, they still had to jump up which was a challenge for some and they still had vents to deal with, just not as many. Thank you for having that spot in there ANet, saved alot of frustration from being knocked off the last set of vents and having to start over.

Loved the puzzle and will do it again

I would be annoyed by that puzzle if i hadn’t spent 9 hours doing clocktower this Halloween.If that raging pile of horse manure spawned from the depths of hell has taught me something its how to jump like a motherkittener, it has made me the perfect jumping puzzle machine.

Just popping in to give my thumbs up to the devs on this one too

I enjoyed this puzzle, very unique. At first I thought standing on the stones would move us up higher and we would be going up and down on all the stones (would be neat!) but I don’t know if this could even be done in the game. Think sonic the hedgehog platforms and you’ll know what I mean.

Anyhow, really liked the jumping puzzle.

Anet should ban people for this kind of cheating.

If not for this, then what purpose could the Mesmer portal possibly have? The entire point of this ability existing is to allow some people to bypass content that the Mesmer has gone through.

Also, all this “exploit” offers is that a few people get some middling loot once per day, nothing too fancy. It’s not like something where they can make a ton of gold or otherwise damage the game for other players. If you value the personal satisfaction of accomplishing this mission “the right way” then you should do so, but if someone else does not need that particular circumstance, they should not need to eb bound by the way you like to do things.

That’s the great thing about a game, the difficulty is however you’d like it. I mean, if a given combat encounter is seen as “too easy” when running in full exotic gear, and you prefer a challenge, you can choose to downgrade to much weaker gear that gives you a tougher fight. Other people might not find the fight so easy, or might not mind that it’s easy, and they can use the best gear if they like. Challenge is where you make it, and has nothing to do with what other players are doing.

Like all jumping puzzles, it’s not Norn approved! Having a full height Norn Warrior as my main character makes jumping puzzles incredibly difficult for me.

I’m still learning to, instead of getting frustrated, to laugh them off as an even more unhealthy and unrewarding usage of time.

Love the puzzle!

Anet should ban people for this kind of cheating.

That would be pointless. Who would you ban? The Mesmers for selflessly waiting around to help others who are struggling? Or the people who used a designed in game mechanic (the mesmer portals) to get to where they want to be? All you get is 2 chests with fairly average gear. Hardly worth getting worried about.

Anyway, the chances of a mesmer being present when you’re attempting the puzzle and who is also willing to wait around dropping portals is very slim.

Clark Skinner.4902:

Do you also pass along to the designer when users say it makes them want to jump off a cliff in real life?

Feels more like a chore or a punishment than a leisure activity.

Then dont do it.

I have said it before but this is one of my favorite jumping puzzles. More like this. Please!

I liked it. I don’t think it’s as amazing as some of the already existing ones, but it was pretty fun.

It was also in no way as difficult as the clocktower, I’m not sure why people are drawing that parallel. Sure, it took me a little while until I got it done, but it wasn’t very frustrating. No particularly difficult jumps and you could take a break on the platforms in between.

It was also in no way as difficult as the clocktower, I’m not sure why people are drawing that parallel.

It’s because both were timed puzzles, in which everyone who wanted to go had to wait for a “signal” and then run it all at the same time if they wanted to succeed (which wouldn’t usually be an issue, but since it’s brand new and everyone wanted to try it. . .). Most of the jumping puzzles in the game do not have a timed component, you can stop at almost any location and ponder your next move, rest the hand, reorient the camera, wait for others to pass, etc. I’ve done a bunch of jumping puzzles and outside of this one and the clock tower, the only others I can think of with a timed element were Spekk’s and maybe that one in Mt. Maelstrom with the cubes (which I dabbled with but was too busy to finish when I saw it). Many players likely haven’t done either, because they aren’t the most obvious ones out there.

get a skilled messer to do the puzzle and create a portal at the top and jump down make a portal at the bottom and pull up the rest of the server population

The puzzle was nice indeed and not too hard, I hope more of the likes in the future!

Simonoly.4352:

779597 kitteno.8103:

Anet should ban people for this kind of cheating.

That would be pointless. Who would you ban? The Mesmers for selflessly waiting around to help others who are struggling? Or the people who used a designed in game mechanic (the mesmer portals) to get to where they want to be? All you get is 2 chests with fairly average gear. Hardly worth getting worried about.

Anyway, the chances of a mesmer being present when you’re attempting the puzzle and who is also willing to wait around dropping portals is very slim.

Hey, I’m one of the Mesmers that have been portaling people, I am not aware of this being against the rules if it is I would like to know I REALLY do not want to exploit or be banned if this is against the rules, though I don’t think anet is really upset about me portaling a few people up here.

Thanks to everyone in this thread who supports me/mesmers doing this, I did it for hours for free and refused any money given to me.

Sorry you feel that way kitteno but games are supposed to be about having fun, they are entertainment, and if someone wants to skip something because its making them miserable and its not ruining YOUR time then they should be able to.

Edit: I am monitoring this thread for tonight if any dev wants to speak up on if this is ok or not.