Guild Wars 2

Is there an easier, yet natural way to look for jumping puzzles? I am trying to get into an exploring mindset, but if I passed a jumping puzzle I doubt I’d recognize it. I know I can look up wikis and such, but I really prefer to find them on my own (and actually know if I find one… even a sign that says “Jumping Puzzle Ahead” is better!).

Part of the idea of jumping puzzles is that they’re hidden, so there’s no easy or consistent way to find them.

I’ve deliberately avoided looking up guides or anything else that might give away where they are and I’ve found about 1/2 of them (with 75% map completion). How I’ve found them varies.

With some I’ve seen something that let me know there’s a puzzle nearby, like the end chest or part of the path that looked obvious. With others I stumbled on the entrance (usually thinking “Hey I wonder what’s in/up/down/over here”) and realised it was a puzzle. And sometimes I’ve been part way through, thinking I was just wasting time scrambling around the scenery, and then realised it was a puzzle.

That’s kinda what I thought. I wish I can get rid of the questing mindset brought over from years of other MMOs though… .but that’s (a boring) topic for another thread.

I found two so far, by accident. The first was in Caledon Forest, and only because I saw 5 dead players on the ground. lol. That one was quite obvious.

The second one was in Metrica. I saw this strange portal-like thingy on a floating rock. Spent the next 10 minutes tracing the path with my eye, followed along the hill edges and found the entrance to a nicely-stacked pile of rock formation. That was a lot of fun. But knowing that I may be missing the others just makes me anal about it. lol.

Some are obvious, a vista or POI “up there”. Then there are regions on the map that seem large but you can’t obvious get to on the ground. JPs are really an offshoot of exploration. If you explore every nook and cranny on the map you are more likely to find them. Then of course there’s spotting other JPers “up there” which is a good sign that there is a JP nearby (or a cave system).

Of course some are insanely difficult (one in Southsun Cove comes to mind).

It definitely helps to get into the habit of exploring everything without worrying about whether it’s something you’re ‘supposed’ to do.

Weirdly I’ve always gone the other way – I’d explore everything even in games that made it quite clear there was absolutely nothing to gain by deviating from the main path. Even in old school RPGs like Darksun and Baldur’s Gate I’d make sure I explored every part of the map before moving on and I used to invent my own challenges in platformers, to try and reach certain places. It’s a bit of a novelty to play a game that actually encourages that.

But there is definitely a middle ground where after a while you get an eye for possible puzzles and as soon as you see a cave or ledge or something like that it will let you know there’s a puzzle there. Although there are definitely some false leads too, places which look like they must be a puzzle or mini dungeon and don’t actually go anywhere. But ultimately it’s just a matter of practice.