Guild Wars 2

The attendance of dry top events has declined to the point where its near impossible to reach Tier 4.
I have waited for roughly 13 hours before i could get out 1 single ambrite weapon recipe and i will need 1-2 more as i progress with insects.

Something needs to be done because within the next 2-3 days it will become absolutely impossible to obtain ambrite recipes.

This is what I was afraid of. I was hoping perhaps that they would change it so that you’d be able to get all the rewards at tier 1 and that each tier afterwards would reduce the cost of the items, but that doesn’t appear to be how they did it. It sucks, to be honest. I still need my ambrite weapons.

People are doing the living story as it is new. After that some will return to Dry Top.

Eventually Dry Top might need guilds to get up the numbers. Nothing wrong with that.

Stooperdale.3560:

People are doing the living story as it is new. After that some will return to Dry Top.

Eventually Dry Top might need guilds to get up the numbers. Nothing wrong with that.

I think there is something wrong with that. In a game where content is supposed to be accessible to as many people as possible, I don’t want this to turn into the classic World of Warcraft scenario where you need a guild to do most of the endgame content and have any fun at all.

We need to be avoiding those situations, not adding more of them. That’s not what this game is about. I already have enough problems with the way Tequatl and Triple Trouble are being handled in-game right now. I don’t want my ability to get a cool skin to be reliant on having a guild.

Don’t get me wrong, having strategy be a thing for world bosses is great, but I prefer it if we have PUGs doing it, but as it is the only people doing tequatl or triple trouble most of the time are TTS and sometimes AARM. Not good, imo.

Stooperdale.3560:

Eventually Dry Top might need guilds to get up the numbers. Nothing wrong with that.

Except there are no guilds, no players, no nothing.

Aerensiniac.3584:

Stooperdale.3560:

Eventually Dry Top might need guilds to get up the numbers. Nothing wrong with that.

Except there are no guilds, no players, no nothing.

Well there are, but there’s not many that would likely be willing to go out of their way to do a Dry Top run. And the likelihood you’ll be in the right place and right time for it is slim at best.

Sorann Peace.9056:

And the likelihood you’ll be in the right place and right time for it is slim at best.

And with that you have expressed the very issue.
This is not a 2 year old world of warcraft instance/raid that can be redone for the achievement. This is a barely a month old ongoing event with a criteria that will be impossible to fulfil unless you “happen to be in the right place and right time”.
What kind of explanation is that anyway? Right place and time? What is this, a lottery?

Also: To get to tier 4 you would require at least 50 players doing events all over the map. Now tell me about a guild which is willing to do that when they do not need anything from there. It wont happen.

The grind factor on these weapons is high, combined with the addition Tier based strain on the recipes, the chance of ANYONE EVER redoing this, is near zero.
When you add that it would take 50-100 ppl to pull it off, it becomes bs.

Aerensiniac.3584:

Sorann Peace.9056:

And the likelihood you’ll be in the right place and right time for it is slim at best.

And with that you have expressed the very issue.
This is not a 2 year old world of warcraft instance/raid that can be redone for the achievement. This is a barely a month old ongoing event with a criteria that will be impossible to fulfil unless you “happen to be in the right place and right time”.
What kind of explanation is that anyway? Right place and time? What is this, a lottery?

Also: To get to tier 4 you would require at least 50 players doing events all over the map. Now tell me about a guild which is willing to do that when they do not need anything from there. It wont happen.

The grind factor on these weapons is high, combined with the addition Tier based strain on the recipes, the chance of ANYONE EVER redoing this, is near zero.
When you add that it would take 50-100 ppl to pull it off, it becomes bs.

I most definitely agree with you there.

Someone posted that you only need like 20-30 people to get to tier 4/5.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/s2/Does-tier-4-ever-happen/first#post4235906

Recipies sure.. i’ve opened tons of chests and havent even found a kitten fossil yet XD

typical really
one new weapon set I love and I have no hope in hell of ever getting one.. good troll Anet thanks alot

I went to Dry Top this afternoon to get the achievements from Waypoint Conundrum, and when I entered the zone, it was in the middle of a Tier 4 sandstorm.

If I can just up and walk into the zone at Tier 4, it’s way too early to say that the zone is dead.

Ayrilana.1396:

Someone posted that you only need like 20-30 people to get to tier 4/5.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/s2/Does-tier-4-ever-happen/first#post4235906

If you are referring to this:

T4? You have to go duo for that one. One of you take the path: Tendril A, Serene, Inquest mine. The other should go for Tendril B, Inquest boss, Light golem, Ley line.

He is either trolling, bsing or their server instance is bugged (or mine is).
I estimate that there are 20-30 ppl roaming the map at average on my server, but even t3 wont come easily, so the notion that you can solo it is mental.
I have been doing quests based on the quest timers, and there is no way in frikin hell, i could pull off t3 alone or t4 with two people.

I can only repeat myself.
Either there is a bug on either his or my realm, or he is flat out BSing. One way or another, what he is claiming is not true.

Xiahou Mao.9701:

I went to Dry Top this afternoon to get the achievements from Waypoint Conundrum, and when I entered the zone, it was in the middle of a Tier 4 sandstorm.

If I can just up and walk into the zone at Tier 4, it’s way too early to say that the zone is dead.

Compare your 0 effort to my 13 hours and you can easily come up with the conclusion that your realm is more active on that map, or that you were hell of lucky.

Aerensiniac.3584:

Ayrilana.1396:

Someone posted that you only need like 20-30 people to get to tier 4/5.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/s2/Does-tier-4-ever-happen/first#post4235906

If you are referring to this:

T4? You have to go duo for that one. One of you take the path: Tendril A, Serene, Inquest mine. The other should go for Tendril B, Inquest boss, Light golem, Ley line.

He is either trolling, bsing or their server instance is bugged (or mine is).
I estimate that there are 20-30 ppl roaming the map at average on my server, but even t3 wont come easily, so the notion that you can solo it is mental.
I have been doing quests based on the quest timers, and there is no way in frikin hell, i could pull off t3 alone or t4 with two people.

I can only repeat myself.
Either there is a bug on either his or my realm, or he is flat out BSing. One way or another, what he is claiming is not true.

I wasn’t referring to just his post but linked where other people started commenting about their experience and how many they needed. There were other threads but I didn’t have time to find and link them.

I also was not referring to doing it duo as I stated 20-30 people in that post rather than 2.

Ayrilana.1396:

I also was not referring to doing it duo as I stated 20-30 people in that post rather than 2.

Yes, and im telling you that 20-30 people are present at dry top all the time, yet tier 4 is next to never achieved, so i dont know what realm and with what rates the ppl you are referring to are working, but on Desolation 20-30 ppl barely pull Tier 3

Teratus.2859:

Recipies sure.. i’ve opened tons of chests and havent even found a kitten fossil yet XD

typical really
one new weapon set I love and I have no hope in hell of ever getting one.. good troll Anet thanks alot

the recipies will be an issue in the future, the fossils are not an issue anymore since you can buy them from the vendor.

Aerensiniac.3584:

Ayrilana.1396:

I also was not referring to doing it duo as I stated 20-30 people in that post rather than 2.

Yes, and im telling you that 20-30 people are present at dry top all the time, yet tier 4 is next to never achieved, so i dont know what realm and with what rates the ppl you are referring to are working, but on Desolation 20-30 ppl barely pull Tier 3

Actively coordinating and doing events in an efficient manner or just random people showing up to whatever event?

Aerensiniac.3584:

What is this, a lottery?

Well, um, uh… yeah. The whole game pretty much is.

Aerensiniac.3584:

Compare your 0 effort to my 13 hours and you can easily come up with the conclusion that your realm is more active on that map, or that you were hell of lucky.

Well, you have options then! You can guest to my server (Tarnished Coast) and thus wind up being put into the Megaserver(s) that TC players go to.

Alternately, you can do what I assume other people in your boat are doing, and use the LFG tool. When I take peeks at the Open World Content part of the LFG system, I usually find several openings for “Dry Top T4”, either people looking for one or people offering taxis to one. Even if you can’t find a group to join an existing T4 map, you can use the system to try to start your own. You’re not the only person who wants T4/T5. Ferry an extra 20 people into your map with the LFG system, and bingo, you’re there.

Ashandar.2570:

Teratus.2859:

Recipies sure.. i’ve opened tons of chests and havent even found a kitten fossil yet XD

typical really
one new weapon set I love and I have no hope in hell of ever getting one.. good troll Anet thanks alot

the recipies will be an issue in the future, the fossils are not an issue anymore since you can buy them from the vendor.

The fossils are still randomly dropped in chests during the sandstorm. Now though if you don’t want them you can exchange them for loot. Which is annoying as all hell. I have guildies who have gotten 5+ and have no want for them and I’ve gotten 2 and want the whole darn set. They should at least be able to be given through mail or something :|

Labjax.2465:

Aerensiniac.3584:

What is this, a lottery?

Well, um, uh… yeah. The whole game pretty much is.

Really… so do you need to cross your fingers on logging in? Because not being able to access a vendor due to a badly designed system is on par with that. Or being able to use a skill, or having your stats do what they are supposed to do.

Ayrilana.1396:

Actively coordinating and doing events in an efficient manner or just random people showing up to whatever event?

Random people, but i fail to see your point. Do you seriously want to imply that 30 ppl randomly doing events cant pull the same kitten 1 person is doing on a table basis?
In theory 30 ppl doing just 1 single event each 10 minutes would amount to multiple times the event completion of a single player, and trust me: They do not do 1 event.

The argument that 1 person can set off tier 3 is mathematically kittened.

Sadly, until they add the function to choose what server you are on, you can get screwed entering dry top easily.

I was actually in a tier four going for a five, and I crashed, logged back in, on a tier one….sigh…

Aerensiniac.3584:

Ayrilana.1396:

Actively coordinating and doing events in an efficient manner or just random people showing up to whatever event?

Random people, but i fail to see your point. Do you seriously want to imply that 30 ppl randomly doing events cant pull the same kitten 1 person is doing on a table basis?
In theory 30 ppl doing just 1 single event each 10 minutes would amount to multiple times the event completion of a single player, and trust me: They do not do 1 event.

The argument that 1 person can set off tier 3 is mathematically kittened.

I am not saying that 1 person can do tier 3 by themselves nor am I saying that 2 people can do tier four. I do not know why you keep inserting that in as something I am arguing.

Whether people coordinate or not makes all the difference. People that work together and play efficiently are rewarded more than people that don’t. It makes sense. People need to split up and tackle all of the events simultaneously.

Aerensiniac.3584:

Ayrilana.1396:

Actively coordinating and doing events in an efficient manner or just random people showing up to whatever event?

Random people, but i fail to see your point. Do you seriously want to imply that 30 ppl randomly doing events cant pull the same kitten 1 person is doing on a table basis?
In theory 30 ppl doing just 1 single event each 10 minutes would amount to multiple times the event completion of a single player, and trust me: They do not do 1 event.

The argument that 1 person can set off tier 3 is mathematically kittened.

In theory, 30 people doing one single event each ten minutes means that only one event is being done each ten minutes. And since the number of people doing an event doesn’t increase the amount of favour you get, 30 people doing one event each ten minutes is pretty dang poor for favour.

And I could probably set off tier 3 alone provided people don’t mess up the bonus favour on Tendrils.

If you have random people all zerging the same event, it doesn’t matter whether you have 1, 10, 30, or 50 people. They’re still only doing one event.

Ayrilana.1396:

Whether people coordinate or not makes all the difference. People that work together and play efficiently are rewarded more than people that don’t. It makes sense. People need to split up and tackle all of the events simultaneously.

Exactly.
When I’m on a map where there isn’t much people, I try to organize some groups. If people are really motivated to get to tier 4, they’ll do their best to do what you tell them to do.
Also, no commander needed : people tend to follow the commander tag without thinking, and that’s exactly what you mustn’t do in Dry Top. When I’m on a map with a commander, I try to find a few players willing to get to tier 4, so we work together to do the events the commander isn’t doing in time.
Most of the events can be done with only 1 to 3 people (per event :p). Some are even easier if you are just two people.

I’ve been finding it easier to get into a T4 or better map lately. I log in and I’m in one almost every time now with no effort required on my part. The few times it’s not T4 I use LFG to find a T4 or better map.

I agree that Dry Top is not yet dead. I think quite a few people switched to LS for a bit, but now people want the new back piece and it requires several recipes from the dry top merchant. So I think interest will continue. I was in a T4 map several times over the last few days, and I was only logging in now and then, and random times. — Anecdotal yes, but then, so is everyone’s statement here.

Aerensiniac.3584:

Really… so do you need to cross your fingers on logging in? Because not being able to access a vendor due to a badly designed system is on par with that. Or being able to use a skill, or having your stats do what they are supposed to do.

I’m not saying I approve of it. I’m just saying that luck is something Anet appears to have no qualms about thrusting heavily into the design of the game.

I got t4 plenty of times yesterday. All it took was people calling out all the events as they see them. You just can’t roam around and expect to get it without at least a bit of coordination.

Here’s something to help those struggling.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2ati8x/updated_dry_top_events_timer_list_and_position/

Aerensiniac.3584:

Also: To get to tier 4 you would require at least 50 players doing events all over the map. Now tell me about a guild which is willing to do that when they do not need anything from there. It wont happen.

You can get tier 4 with 5 people on the map if they know what they are doing. It’s mostly a case of getting to the events on time. Apart from the champion events (which you don’t need for t4) they can all be solo’d by players with the correct builds.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2ati8x/updated_dry_top_events_timer_list_and_position/

Who says we won’t be forced back here for an additional set of recipes in EP 4. I am saving geodes myself in case this happens…..

People are too busy cutting wood in Malchor’s Leap and Cursed Shore to go to Dry Top.

I play on Gandara have yet to see a map not reach T4. Last night there were at least 2 T5 maps that I was aware of.
Getting to T4 or T5 takes coordination & teamwork, if your server can’t do this, it is not Anet’s fault.
In your 13 hours of waiting, were you
1: Actively doing events?
2: Actively trying to rally people to do events?
3: Asking Guild mates to help out if they weren’t busy?
4: Popping in & out of the map to see which tier it had progressed to, like most people do lately?

Aerensiniac.3584:

Ayrilana.1396:

I also was not referring to doing it duo as I stated 20-30 people in that post rather than 2.

Yes, and im telling you that 20-30 people are present at dry top all the time, yet tier 4 is next to never achieved, so i dont know what realm and with what rates the ppl you are referring to are working, but on Desolation 20-30 ppl barely pull Tier 3

Really!.. REALLY!!

Tier 4 is very much achievable and often, especially as players now need to grind out more geodes for the new recipes and clay brick. Add to that there are 16 Fossil options people still might want to play for. I have failed to see anything less than T4 on any megaserver map I have entered on my alts.. either your play times may be an issue for map numbers or your not using the LFG to actively seek a T4 map or your just really really unlucky.

I logged in a 7.30am this morning (hey its a weekend and the kids are on school break ) went for a trot over to Dry Top to grab the 3 achievs in Wapypoint conundrum and instantly portaled into a T4 map with maybe 30+ players running events in both areas.. its not difficult to summise it will only get busier as the day wares on.
On the other hand I popped over to Iron Marches a bit later with another alt to run the Spore Sample event and it was empty… guess they all headed back to Dry Top.

Longer term Dry Top will see the effect of most other maps .. virtual ghost towns for most parts of the day/week/month/year but that’s nothing new to GW2 or MMO’s in that sense.

In my experience, it’s not a lack of players that prevents tier progression. It’s the amount of players sitting around doing nothing, and not taking the initiative to get things done.

The number of people who sit around and wait for others to hold their hand, for the zerg to show up, to me is staggering.

For the last week and a half, of times I’ve been to Dry Top, it’s always been at what are probably the least populated hours of the day for NA servers – around 1 am to 6 am Pacific, far off NA prime hours – and all but one of those were tier 3/tier 4, with two tier 5’s. Most of which had no commander, and very little to no communication in map chat. Some felt like outright ghost towns, yet they were still high tier.

Go out and do events that you know no one else will do. The majority of the events are easily soloable, the only ones I haven’t attempted by myself are N Mines, Race, Moa, Colocal Queen, and the two Inquest champions.

Long term Dry Top however, may indeed see more of a population issue further down the road, unless in demand unique items are added to the zone beyond simply a few crafting ingredients. I really hold out hope for a proper zone boss.

Halcyon.7352:

I really hold out hope for a proper zone boss.

Maybe they’ll add another mega world boss like Teq and Jungle Wurm in the new area

It also helps, if you have gotten stuck in a bad server, is to ask in the LFG channel for a taxi to a t4 or 5 server during a sandstorm. I did this yesterday morning when I needed a weapon recipe, and I left the group open so I could ferry people that needed it across. I was able to help around ten people, including myself, that way.

Sorann Peace.9056:

This is what I was afraid of. * I was hoping perhaps that they would change it so that you’d be able to get all the rewards at tier 1*and that each tier afterwards would reduce the cost of the items, but that doesn’t appear to be how they did it. It sucks, to be honest. I still need my ambrite weapons.

Thats what I thought it would be when I first saw the tiers.

A benefit/encouragement to getting higher tiers, but no one is limited to having to get those higher tiers.

This is how it should be. I hope anet changes the tier merchants, similar to how they changed the bronze pavilion.

People don’t want to be forced into guilds, just to complete content. Most people don’t want raids like what’s in other MMO’s.

It will be interesting to see where this stands in 2-3 months time when the initial rush has finished and most have moved on to the latest LS bits. Probably end up like Teq with one group of people running it a couple times a week for fun, and the rest of the time 10-20 people standing around being ineffective or chasing the blue tag.

Get it done while you can if you are interested (personally not bothering).

i knew this would become an issue, which is why i bought all the weapon recipes i wanted to make first, keys can easily be obtained at any tier latter on.

just finished my 4th Ambrite weapon this morning

They need to add a reward each time a tier is reached. Maybe champ boxes, obbi shards, or karma?

Kain Francois.4328:

They need to add a reward each time a tier is reached. Maybe champ boxes, obbi shards, or karma?

Ugh, not karma, I still can’t figure out what to do with a million of it. If anything, make it a box of geodes. If you hit the max, then an amberite fossile.

Overall it seems if you are not playing at peak times its pretty hard to roll anything past tier 3. Just people seem scarce or less interested in trying to reach higher tiers. While its not necessarily an issue at the moment, it could be an issue if you only can play at strange times. :/

If in the long run (years from now really or months) it becomes a scarce map to persist on. I hope they’ll change the merchants accordingly or make the tier system work slower or something where it doesn’t degrade every hour.

I really enjoy the map and the event system. But I know a lot of people get sick of repetition and “farming” so I can’t see it being a hot spot for very long past its usefulness has gone for most.

I have had no problems getting to T4 over the past few days that I do pop into Dry Top. I normally go to http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2auf8b/updated_dry_top_events_timer_with_positions_and/ and post times so people know what events are going on.

Most of the events don’t need massive amounts of people, it’s just a matter of having those few players that are willing to go to those events and do them. If too many are just sitting there AFK, or refuse to pitch then, then obviously there’s going to be problems.

It’s also partially due to your timezone. During US prime time, I often see maps with no trouble getting to T4 or T5. But during my usual playtime, which happens to be early morning US time, Dry Top often struggles to get to T3. T4 is rare, and T5 never happens anymore.

However, I have faith that if this becomes a running trend, ANet will tweak the requirements down a bit so that it’s easier for T4/5 to be attained with smaller groups.

I honestly haven’t logged into anything below t4 for the past week now o_O

Tier 4 is getting a bit less common but still do able with pugs. The issue really is just what’s going to happen in a few months when Dry Top is no longer new content.

Serophous.9085:

Sadly, until they add the function to choose what server you are on, you can get screwed entering dry top easily.

I was actually in a tier four going for a five, and I crashed, logged back in, on a tier one….sigh…

Not really a fix since you’ll still have full maps and barely populated maps, all it gives you is the ability to hot swap and hope you can get into a fuller server.
ANet could iron out some of the issues with the megaserver. Currently it seems a map has a maximum player count and player get pooled together by some variables but for the most part this system still leads to the issues that you might have 10 full maps and 1 barely populated one. A soft cap and a better distribution would be able to somewhat if not completely remove the issue of barely populated servers (although might case some maps to be uncomfortably over populated).

Liston.9708:

Who says we won’t be forced back here for an additional set of recipes in EP 4. I am saving geodes myself in case this happens…..

And I’m still farming for the current recipes.

Celestina.2894:

I honestly haven’t logged into anything below t4 for the past week now o_O

Then you’re very lucky. Although you could on pure luck expect to see it a couple of times during the day (assuming you play long enough).

Just wanted to add that while it might be a problem further in the future, we shouldn’t think that Dry Top is going to be completely abandoned just yet. There’s still at least one more chunk of it to be revealed, which will add new events and get people back into the map.

I also expect that in that patch they will address the insect fossils and the ambrite recipes because there have been a lot of people complaining about them.

Most likely, at the end of this arc, once the Zephyrites have been saved and their people have recovered, there will be some merchant standing around selling fossils and recipes for Geodes or Laurels or whatever other currency they deem appropriate.