Guild Wars 2

Whoever thought to make access to Mons Draconis so difficult is stupid. When I’m online there are no groups or anyone offering to taxi people. And you have to be in the map to obtain a portal scroll for it! Absolutely ridiculous! Only other option is to restart the map & scrap any progress you’ve already made. Sucks big time! Wake up to yourselves Anet. This is a really idiotic idea restricting access to a map. This morning I wanted to get into the map to at least buy a druid runestone but haven’t been able to even get into the map.

Progress the story, use a WP, use a teleport to friend stone, or use the teleport scroll. All viable options to gain entry to the map.

Boneyard Yogi.8206:

Whoever thought to make access to Mons Draconis so difficult is stupid.

Tell that to the person who just complained in map chat that she/he got hit with the huge Balthazar spoiler when she/he joined the map via Teleport to Friend.

Ayrilana.1396:

Progress the story, use a WP, use a teleport to friend stone, or use the teleport scroll. All viable options to gain entry to the map.

You can’t do any of these except teleport to a friend unless you are actually in the map. The WP are not available from outside the map. The teleport scrolls can only be purchased in that map. And if there is no one willing to taxi you teleport to a friend is not an option. It’s ridiculous. I just logged out & other people did too.

The waypoints are available, you just might be viewing the map from wrong layer.

Do. The. Story………………………………

I’m not sure what you expected. Every one of the new maps requires that at least one character finish the first chapter of the story. I don’t like gating, personally, but at least ANet’s been consistent about it.

It is frustrating as I hate gating but they have been choosing to do this all season long. Once you do the first instance (alone or with LFG) you will have the first WP. Immediately buy the portal scroll for 1000 UM so any alts have access (if not, at least that account can get in until you do). If you can get the other 2 waypoints the first day so much the better but at least you will have access to continue things in the future.

Masteries that will make your life easier:
gliding (no ley lines I have spotted but you will likely want advanced and updrafts)
mushroom hopping
advanced magicks from chapter 2

You will probably get enough XP your first day for the new mastery, which is VERY handy on that map, it is 5 points (some you can get there without it).

oh yes, so bad, it’s not like all the other maps where the story grants you access you the new zones.. it’s almost like you have to play the game in order instead of randomly move about, that is so unheard of and never done before in any game

sorry.. I just can’t add enough sarcasm..
to anyone who complains they have to play in sequence, rather than dot their way through.. is this your first game?

Menadena.7482:

Masteries that will make your life easier:
gliding (no ley lines I have spotted but you will likely want advanced and updrafts)
mushroom hopping
advanced magicks from chapter 2

There are ley lines to glide on. Specifically, west of the middle WP.

Boneyard Yogi.8206:

Ayrilana.1396:

Progress the story, use a WP, use a teleport to friend stone, or use the teleport scroll. All viable options to gain entry to the map.

You can’t do any of these except teleport to a friend unless you are actually in the map. The WP are not available from outside the map. The teleport scrolls can only be purchased in that map. And if there is no one willing to taxi you teleport to a friend is not an option. It’s ridiculous. I just logged out & other people did too.

WP’s are accessible outside of the map. Just use the LFG and then you can use a teleport to friend stone. You can join any random squad.

Can you post a screenshot of the map showing the WP’s unavailable?

The waypoints are definitely available for me, I’ve used them several times to go to and from the map.

Sephas.8793:

Menadena.7482:

Masteries that will make your life easier:
gliding (no ley lines I have spotted but you will likely want advanced and updrafts)
mushroom hopping
advanced magicks from chapter 2

There are ley lines to glide on. Specifically, west of the middle WP.

Thanks for the correction, I had not spotted them. So far it looks like nothing major is gated behind them though, which is good. On some maps it has actually been a hindrance to have that mastery so I skipped it.

Danikat.8537:

The waypoints are definitely available for me, I’ve used them several times to go to and from the map.

Well yes, but were they available to you before you visited the map the first time. That’s what he means.

He is asking why you can’t just walk into the zone from somewhere else.

Warcry.1596:

Danikat.8537:

The waypoints are definitely available for me, I’ve used them several times to go to and from the map.

Well yes, but were they available to you before you visited the map the first time. That’s what he means.

He is asking why you can’t just walk into the zone from somewhere else.

Except the following from another thread means that they have visited there before.

Boneyard Yogi.8206:

Mons Draconis is good looking. Just had an hour or so there yesterday but can’t get back into it today. Whoever thought to make it so difficult to access needs their butt kicked. When I’m online there aren’t any groups or anyone offering to taxi people there. You can’t get a portal scroll unless you in the map! How ridiculous is that! How about opening up access to the map so we can play it.

I have been in the map before but it was on the wrong level so the wp’s were greyed out. Duh! I actually have 2/3 wp’s, probably almost half of the map. Must have got out of bed on the wrong side. Also when I was on that morning there were no groups, no one, to teleport to. But it’s all good now just I don’t have time to play for a few days.

Amaimon.7823:

oh yes, so bad, it’s not like all the other maps where the story grants you access you the new zones.. it’s almost like you have to play the game in order instead of randomly move about, that is so unheard of and never done before in any game

sorry.. I just can’t add enough sarcasm..
to anyone who complains they have to play in sequence, rather than dot their way through.. is this your first game?

I don’t understand why you have trouble understanding that gating is boring for a lot of people. I play the game plenty. I don’t like feeling forced to repeat content for the sake of repeating it, which is what gating maps by story completion does.

I can understand ANet having an economic interest in my participating in the game to grant me free access to each episode; I don’t understand their insistence that I must play the story on each toon or spend currency (for which I have other uses) to get a portal scroll that I will likely only use once or twice per toon.

I don’t think it makes GW2 a grindy game or poorly designed. I simply find it tedious and I wish they would stop.

tl;dr yes, I play as much GW2 as anyone and yet I still dislike gating maps with story.

(Although, again as I noted above, this episode isn’t any worse than any of the others.)

I don’t know why, I guess I just grew up in a world where gating is the most normal thing ever, and that complaining about it is just silly as it only slows you down as you go through the gates..
I guess it’s just my childhood, then..

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

I don’t understand their insistence that I must play the story on each toon or spend currency (for which I have other uses) to get a portal scroll that I will likely only use once or twice per toon.

Where do you draw the line between exploration and gating? Is it just that you prefer other avenues of access? Run half-way across Tyria like you have to do to access the Arah dungeon in Cursed Shore or the Dragon’s Stand map? Play long event chains (that may or may not need several players to succeed), like you need to access the Crucible of Eternity dungeon or map areas in some of the HoT maps?

To me investing some kind of time and minimal effort into opening new areas is part of what a game like this is all about. Whether it’s traveling time (and dealing with the local wildlife on the way), event completion, or story instances doesn’t make that much of a difference.

I do agree that doing the same thing again and again back to back is boring. Fortunately, having several characters already past their 4th birthday, I’ve got a stack of teleport to friend stones in store (with some additional stones from black lion chests opened with keys found or earned through in-game activities), so if I “need” a character at a place and don’t feel like doing the job, I’ll send them there. The supply of stones isn’t endless, but I find it more than enough to shortcut the chore if playing the game starts to become one.

As a long-term player you should have the tools to shortcut the journey if you really need to. But what is so important on the new map that you absolutely need many different characters there right away to the point where it’s too much to play the introductory story instance? And (to get back to my initial question) where should ANet draw the line between progression by gameplay and instant access?

zealex.9410:

Do. The. Story………………………………

This. I hate to break it to y’all, but the game is a story game. Themepark, not sandbox. You have to do the kitten story once, so kitten it up, buttercup!