Guild Wars 2

Going with pits taking away one heart and resetting you is very Zelda.

After hours of scrutiny, I believe I’ve found the answer.

Oh, I also wanted to mention a bug I experienced in 2-2.

The platforming section on top of the poles after the Warp Pad puzzle (or as I have come to call it, “Foreman’s Fifty Fingers of Fury”) has a rare but big problem. When I would respawn at the checkpoint after dying, I would sometimes immediately die again. It happened 2, maybe 3 times and it didn’t stop me from beating the level, but it’s still a problem.

Just beat 2-2, had to go back to the hub because I was 22 Baubles short for the torch in 2-3 :C

Good gravy that was diabolical, but in a good way!
Now to find where the heck these thousands of buried Baubles are. I was pretty good at finding dig spots in World 1 but I got nuthin’ so far in World 2.

I’m also on my quest to get the fabled “Chain Stick.” and also have only just today realized that the Dark Lord is wielding Swordchucks.

Eowin Of Rohan.2619:

I’m currently dieing in infantile mode. Didn’t go normal yet.
Infantile doesn’t help avoiding those enemies that I’m saying are too hard for normal mode.

Some tips for the Assassins and Bears:

Assassins
-As someone earlier mentioned, Strafing is key.
-Keep an eye out for when the white Assassins pull back their arm and then move horizontally out of the way. Once you dodge the shuriken you can get in the two hits you need to finish them off before they throw a second.
-If you can get to them BEFORE they begin their throwing animation, you can just kill them outright.
-The Red Assassins only deal damage after jumping. Once they jump, strafe away from the direction they are moving and attack from the side or behind after they land. Their attack DOES have a deceptively large hitbox, but that might just be me playing a tiny Asura so I’m used to things hitting me when they “shouldn’t.”
-I have no advice on the pink assassins because I’ve just murdered them with wanton abandon.

As for the silent Ninja Bridge in Zone 1, I know you can’t really strafe. What I usually do is deal with the first two by dodge rolling the shuriken and then wait for my stamina to recharge after killing them. Then I just run. Dodge past the next two red guys and make a mad dash for the Raft.

Bears
-Are jerks
-The most effective way to to periodically stun them, but you seem to know that already.
-If they do toss a torch, roll out of the way and close the distance.
-If they threw the torch close range and are standing in their own AoE, I just run away until they drop aggro and the AoE fades.
-If you’re dealing with more than one Bear at a time, RUN.
-Release your Bear related frustration by stepping on and off the bear skin rug in the second store.

Lastly, for Josh: Are the red Assassins at all inspired by Mystical Ninja Goemon? It’s not like they’re fighting with Pipes and it could just be classic use of the primary colors, but they always remind me of Mystical Ninja. Either way, it makes me smile.

Rayti.6531:

It makes me sad somehow, that dedicated, creative developers like Josh and his team that created a great game like the SAB get told all over and over again in this thread that all their work was for nothing, SAB is an epic fail, long levels are an epic fail, they are slapping in gamer’s faces (sorry I had to bring that up, but this is the most overused phrase in the whole English forum), they just want to make money with the infinite coint, etc.

That’s the main message I get from this thread, and it’s a pity because there are indeed lots of good posts in here, containing hints to actual issues/bugs that can be addressed by the devs. Unfortunately some of the not so constructive but more aggressive posts seem to overshine the constructive feedback sometimes… And that must be very saddening to read for someone who worked his … off to make this content work.

I think that most of the “RARRRGH THIS IS TOO HARD AND YOU SUCK!!” users have either said their piece or given up and moved on by now. The posts I’ve been reading lately have generally been legitimate bug complaints and honest critiques mixed with appreciation of the work and difficulty.

Oh, but while I’m at it: It would be nice if, in the case you die by falling off a cliff, you would respawn holding a key if you had one when you died. I’m not sure if it’s difficult to do coding wise, but it would mean I’d have more than one chance to jump the key over to a chest. Probably wouldn’t be able to keep a key while respawning from a Continue, but that’s fine.

Josh Foreman.8250:

The owls are not what they seem.

Oh god, now I’m scared.

I played World 2 Zone 2 for the first time just now and, even though I couldn’t beat it yet, I loved it. Zone 1 felt almost nothing like the SAB I loved in April while Zone 2 felt much MUCH more like the game I adored.

The arrow traps did get me, a lot, but only 2 in particular felt unfair.
1. The first one. You have no idea it’s coming and while it does serve to teach you about the trap’s existence, that comes at the cost of a life. I also decided to test if I could dodge through traps, for the future.
NOPE. Haha, but that’s my own decision, not a design issue.
2. The one in the image below, on the right and between the blocks. Instantly killing you from so far away while also being very difficult to see is pretty unfair. I actually do understand WHY it’s there, but adding a pole to host a closer and more visible arrow trap would be nice.

Two suggestions, for what they’re worth. The first is to introduce the arrow traps more demonstratively rather than by surprise. I think it’d be awesome if you could script an Assassin attempting to run towards the player, only to have forgotten about the arrow trap in the way and consequently bite it. It would give the player a reason to take the time to figure out what happened and learn “oh, crap, arrow traps up ahead.” without costing them a life.
Also, I think it’d be pretty hilarious. :P
The second is to take a page from our good friend Mario. On occasion, there will be a somewhat hidden or difficult to get 1up shroom near particularly hellacious platforming sections. It would respawn every time you died, so it served the purpose of allowing you to throw yourself at the problem repeatedly without having to bother with all the already-conquered junk between it and the nearest checkpoint.
Someone mentioned the idea of a “soft” checkpoint for really difficult sections of the game and I think this is a way to do it. You still have to notice the 1up for yourself in the first place AND collect it each time. It’s usually not a free gift, and you can screw up getting to it if you get careless… but that’s YOUR mistake, not the game’s.

And hey, if you’re so good that you can reliably get past that section without losing a life, free man!

Josh Foreman.8250:

CommodoreSkippy.2657:

Rather than decreasing the Baubles earned, increasing the prices would have been a better solution. Yes, it’s artificial, but it’s about the FEEL of earning more.

I think you’re right about this and I’m going to see what I can do.

Wow, that was fast! I posted, logged on to play the SAB , Alt+Tab’d out during a load screen, and what do I find but a direct response.

This kind of back and forth over the forums, and quickly, is really encouraging and makes me glad I play GW2. You’ve caught a lot of flak in this thread, some even from me, so I wanted to point out how grateful I am that you’ve been taking the time to listen to the players so intently and respond genuinely rather than with generic diplomatic answers.
Thanks, Josh.

It’s really great to get so much direct Dev response. I am once again looking forward to new SAB content.

That said, I still would like to hear more about the decision to reward much fewer Baubles in World 2 than in World 1.

How many Baubles are even in w2z1, counting all of the secrets? It feels like it would be extremely difficult to make a profit if you use even one Continue Coin.

As far the owls that litter the World, do they need to be infinitely spawning? They aren’t difficult, just annoying. The owls add no additional challenge, they only serve to make the game less rewarding.

matthewr.3980:

It’s funny, because when you said, “THAT turtle” I instantly knew which turtle you were talking about.

It is silly how far away the creatures are and how you literally have to step off of them to hit other ones.

I’m fresh from beating w2z1, and bombing that turtle is the way to go. Stand on the croc to do it.
Still, you DO have to stand off the visible model to reach many animals who are both too far for the stick but too close for the bomb. That and the fact that bombs costs Baubles sucks in a World with almost none.

At least I’m an Asura. I truly pity Charr players.

I decided to take some screenshots of some of the problems I’ve encountered. I have to say I still really enjoy the parts of the SAB that are not like this! That said though, These issue crop up too much and are ruining it for me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/FireDryden/crocfallstand_zps6cc87f31.png
Where I have to stand in order to hit this crocodile.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/FireDryden/crocfallwhat_zps840169ae.png
Where I CAN stand, as a note.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/FireDryden/ihatethisturtle_zps6cd5bb8f.png
I HATE this turtle. I have yet to legitimately get passed him. I say legitimate because I’ve exploited the buggy rapids to my advantage in order to do so, but otherwise I cannot reach him with either the stick or the whip. Slingshot is useless, but I guess I’ll chuck some bombs next time.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/FireDryden/crocrapidstail_zps9fb0a927.png
Why is this okay? I wish I could stand on turtles like this.

And since so far these have actually been examples of me NOT hitting the rapids when it seems like I should have, the reverse is also true.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/FireDryden/landrapids1_zpsac6cf6ef.png
Minding my own business on land when…

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/FireDryden/landrapids2_zps8ff594f3.png
POW, knockback and damage!

I wasn’t fast enough to get me flying in the air. I only got this because it had actually just happened a moment before, which is why I’m hurt for half a heart in the first picture. After faceplanting the dirt, I was stuck and unable to perform any action other than to close my client.

I’m actually really confident I can beat all the challenges ahead of me in World 2, I just wish I could get to them with any reliability. The river rapids seem to keep crashing my client.
To wit, I’ll close with this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/FireDryden/what_zps9e4bd5d2.png
What?

I think the massive difficulty jump would be less of a problem if the rewards scaled with it. Instead, Baubles are almost nowhere to be found and even the secrets have far less than World 1 did.

World 1: Find a secret dig spot, get 40 Baubles.
World 2: Find a secret location, fight a lot, get 10 Baubles.

Maybe it’s retrospectively realizing that Baubles were too plentiful in World 1, but it’s too late to take that back. In all good games your rewards increase as the difficulty of earning them does. World 2 unfortunately teaches us that trying harder means you get less rather than more. I’m not in it for the Bauble Bubbles, but it’s very counter-intuitive and frustrating all the same.

Rather than decreasing the Baubles earned, increasing the prices would have been a better solution. Yes, it’s artificial, but it’s about the FEEL of earning more. Plus, Farming World 1 would not be as lucrative anymore, making replays of World 2 more worthwhile.

Well, my client just crashed as I was climbing through the aforementioned waterfall bear cave. There goes 4 continue coins for nothing.
Everything except the River parts were great, but I REALLY don’t want to do those again.

Also, where are all the Baubles? There are very few along the beaten path, and the rewards for all the secrets I found so far were very underwhelming.

I’m having major problems with World 2 Zone 1. I like to consider myself a proficient jumper, but I simply cannot hit some of the turtles to get past the river parts. I’ve tried various positions as well as using the whip (since it seems to have slightly longer range) to no avail. I’ve gotten as far as I have by jumping into the water while attacking, then relying on the fact that SOMETIMES you can hit the water and get a jump in before the rapids hurl you backwards.
I’ve had to do that twice, once early on, and again for the second turtle after the Bear.

I loved the SAB in April, and I mean LOVED it. I was so excited to hear about it reopening but so far it’s just been frustrating. Difficulty wise, the skill required to get all the secrets in World 1 Zone 3 was perfect. This zone feels more like a classic arcade cabinet designed to suck quarters out of me. Well, thankfully GW2 has no subscription :P

Also I’m sad that the awesome old Rapids music was removed and used only for the Raft because I don’t like the new one all that much. Oh well, guess it makes the raft music more special.

The repair cost is the only downside of dying besides travel time to get back in the action, it needs to be there.

That said though, reducing repair costs should be part of the Outmanned buff. (and maybe making it actually useful, but we don’t have to get into that here.)

As far as escaping a thief or chasing one, they are consistently the hardest to catch of run from on my Engi. Only a thief or a mesmer has a real chance at escaping me.
I do mean hardest though, not impossible.

Of course, engaging one is a crapshoot. The fight is hopeless if they abuse constant stealthing and the delay before they actually reappear. Doesn’t really matter that I pack 3 knockdowns, a cripple, an immobilize, and a daze.
If they only stealth a reasonable amount though, that’s a fair fight that can go either way.

There is a major imbalance in incentive and rewards to participate. Before I go on though, I’ll preface this with that I still actively participate in all aspects of WvWvW despite what I’m about to say.

What I mean is this:
You get Exp, Money, and Karma every 3 minutes you defend a location. Even if you are fighting a losing battle, those are able to be dragged out a long time. You get rewarded ONCE for assaulting, and the reward is not substantially larger than a single defense reward. Additionally, you get NOTHING if you fail (even if you assailed the tower for half an hour) which means any repair bills from deaths comes right out of your pocket.
So looking at a half hour siege, the defenders get Event rewards 10 times. Even if the offense is victorious, they still only get one slightly larger reward. There usually isn’t much of a reward in terms of player kills either, since it’s obvious when a location is beyond hope the defenders have the option of backing off and dropping combat status so they can safely waypoint away.

If you want to gain something from WvW, it is way more lucrative to either roam the map accomplishing lesser objectives or only defend. As a plus, you also don’t need to spend money on expensive siege equipment.
Offense and capping locations is the force that drives WvW, so why is it the one that is least rewarding?

Dybz.9275:

Random though: as an engineer, if you’re falling and you try jumpshot right before you hit the ground, does it save you from fall damage?

Being one who frequently uses Jump Shot to take shortcuts in puzzles, I know a lot about how it works.
If you are on ordinary terrain, Jumpshot will land you anywhere in range that you can walk to. If you are trying a jump between a steep ledge or two separate platforms, things get different. It has no problem landing you somewhere LOWER than your starting position, but Jump Shot can only land you at a very slightly higher elevation if you are targeting somewhere you cannot walk to.
This is relevant because you are midair, you can’t walk back onto your ledge (let alone walk at all)

Buuut even so, you WILL take falling damage if you Jump to a position steep enough to call for it.

So to answer your question: No.
…mostly.

If you wanted to jump back to the ledge you were on, it wouldn’t work unless you are launched remarkably high. You probably won’t have the chance to use Jump Shot quick enough because of the short global CDR from being interrupted.
BUT, you should theoretically be able to target and jump to a nearby lower platform that is less deadly than the long fall down if your reflexes are quick enough. Jump Shot DOES work in mid-air, so I see no reason why this wouldn’t work.

I posted this in another glitch thread, but since this is about the exact same problem I figured it’d be worth it to post again.

Same things happens with the Boots, so it might be the whole set that does it.

Defense: Grenades, Flamethrower, Mortar (kinda)

You can stand at your side of the gate and spam 1 with the flamethrower and constantly hit attackers. You won’t be killing anyone alone, but you’ll be helping and get credit for the kills.
You can toss grenades a fair distance from the top of the wall.

Offense: Mines, Grenades?, Mortar (kinda)

If you throw them right, you can chuck a mine onto a tower’s wall and blow an enemy off a corner. Once on the ground where they will be swiftly devoured by the horde.
Like on defense, you can toss grenades onto the wall, but I never really feel very useful while doing this.

The Mortar is… theoretically very nice. Being destructible and stationary though… it’s of limited use. Odds are that you’ll get off a few shots before the enemy gets wise and blows up the Mortar.
Besides that, the range is… pretty much a huge disappointment. Since ground targeted ranges account for vertical distance as well as horizontal, you have to subtract the height of the wall from your actual, useful range… which is most of it. You’d think you could fire further when you’re on top of the wall, but you’d be wrong.
In open field engagements, the range is about equal to the “no man’s land” distance between your group and the enemy group. Unfortunately, should the two mobs shift away from you any distance… (and they often do) the mortar becomes pretty pointless.

So what Elite to use? Hell if I know. Supply Drop can help in open field defense but it’s useless on offense. Assaulting or defending a tower, the turrets can barely shoot the distance of the wall, and are likely to break quickly.
So… racials. Unless yours are also bad in WvW, in which case use the Mortar and hope for the best.

To give the Mortar some credit, it can be really useful in tearing down build sites on an enemy wall and sometimes you can get a long run using it on top of your own wall. You just have to hope you go unnoticed.

What is it called so I can check it out and maybe transmute it?

I know there are a few eye-piece type helmets like the monocles and patches, but is anyone else feeling a pretty distinct lack of Engineer flavored helms?
Most medium armor helmets are masks, and those always feel incredibly theif style. The Pirate hat is pretty nice, but besides covering hair, absolutely everyone has it.

I noticed the Prowler helm, and that’s great for someone looking for a more armored look. The Seraph helmet too, but I don’t really like the chin strap on my Asura.

But where are the goggles? Whether a set to wear, or a good old pair of standard-issue forehead goggles. A welding mask could be fun, even a gas/re-breather mask you wear on land. (reminds me of the re-breather I had around level 40 that was literally just a leather mask)

Anyway, has anyone found some good looking Engineer style helmets? I’m also looking for a medium armor circlet or just a simple headband, but as far as I can tell the only headband I can find is the Theif starting one.

The Power Suit would go from being a “meh” elite to a great one if only it granted Stability…

I noticed this and like it when I first saw it. Those surfaces are all over Auras areas, so it’s hard to miss.

They’re actually not reflective, the image of yourself seen in them is likely due to light distortion. Besides being from the wrong angle, they “reflections” are in the wrong position to be one. Since I figure they are platforms made by some kind of energy manipulation, any light bouncing back or passing through the floor would be affected in ways our feeble non-Asuran minds to comprehend. :P

I’m having an issue with the T1 boots and back slot items. Basically, it rotates my backpack 90 degrees on two axis so that it winds up “face down” and sideways.
I don’t mind much with my backpack because (some clipping issues aside) it just looks like a different type of backpack.

If I equip my shield however…

Ow.

Aesthetically cultural kits and turrets would be awesome, sorta like how WoW introduced Racial Shaman Totems.
Gears, steam, and smoke for the Charr. Botanical organic plant-machines for the sylvari. Angular and polished Arcane Tech for the Asura and so on. Would be neato.

That said, I don’t feel any problem playing an Asura engineer. Nothing says the compounds in your flamethrower and Elixir gun aren’t magical in construction.

Also, as Zojja has said “Even Magic is just another cog in the Eternal Alchemy.”
Magic isn’t their ONLY resource, it is simply one of them, even if it is their most used. The Asura are free to utilize anything in the name of progress.

Any krewe could participate in the contest for the Snaff prize, your own krewe was a temporary mix of Asura. A krewe isn’t necessarily made up from a single college, though they can be.
It just so happens that the krewe who sabotaged your Golem was all Inquest, probably because only Inquest will work with Inquest.

I’ve found myself asking the same question.

From what I gather, an Asura’s lab is their home. Rata Sum lacks a real residential district because it is a densely packed and efficient city of progress. I assume most Asura do not live in Rata Sum, but commute there for commerce and to use it’s resources. There are countless land-based buildings all over Metrica and elsewhere in the world., and those are the labs I’d say Asura make their residence in.

Regarding krewes…
Krewes change all the time. They’re basically taskforces with specific goals in mind. Once they accomplish a task they may or may not break up and reform as part of another krewe. Likewise, a couple of Asura might like to stick together while they go between krewes. And some, like Snaff and Zojja, forgo krewes and work alone or with a single partner.

Since when were the Inquest a “Highly Respected” faction? They’re the equivalent of organized crime, a group of OBVIOUSLY bad guys who work from within and without the system to avoid criminal punishment. Councillor Yahk being among their ranks is very helpful to them of course.
Much like with real life organized crime, lawful and civil complaints will range in effectiveness from “immeasurably slow” to “completely pointless”.

They don’t even have a true wing in Rata Sum like the real Colleges, relegated instead to the Auxiliary Laboratories. And lets not even go into their open cooperation with Outlaw and Bandit forces elsewhere across the world.

Basically, everyone who isn’t Inquest hates the Inquest, but the group is too powerful to excommunicate outright, lest the Asura start a civil war.

So sure, all of your points are valid when concerning the Inquest, but they’re the Asuran’s obvious villains. The three REAL colleges work together peacefully, with the occasional non-violent rivalry.

So forgive me if I kill some Inquest on my mission to stop them from using my altered weather machine to flood Rata Sum. I’m sorry some bad guys died while I was saving an entire city and the Arcane council from their machinations.

TL;DRWe need help on this fight because we are stumped on how to handle the Boss with two vines at once.
Summary of our experience below.

My group of friends could use some serious help with the Nightmare Vines encounter in Explorable Twilight Arbor. We’ve been so set on running the place because we love the Nightmare Armor, but we can’t even get past the first encounter.
Naturally, we expect a challenge. We’ve cleared Story and Explorable for AC and CM with varying levels of difficulty while having fun doing it, same goes for Story TA. (I LOVE the last fight, by the by)

But man have we hit a major difficulty wall with the Nightmare Vines! Worse, it’s before you even choose your path, so we’ll have to fight them every time.

At first clearing the room is a little rough but plenty doable, as the regular size Nightmare Vines pop up. In fact, I sat off to the side with my Mortar out for most of our very first encounter, completely safe from harm. Eventually though, I felt cheesy so I abandoned my mortar and headed in to fight on foot. I died immediately entirely due to my own fault, and then the Boss Vine spawned and it wasn’t long before the rest of the party dropped.
So then comes our first “clean” encounter with the Boss. It was hell for the ranged classes, including myself. The melee classes were merrily hacking away while the three of us Ranged were doing a constant dance of dodging, rallying, reviving, and Waypointing. A time when we were all up was non-existant, and we were barely contributing to the fight anyhow because of all the effort we put into just surviving.

But admittedly, at this point it’s fair to say we just didn’t know the fight well enough and had to wipe a few times to get a feel for it.

The Melee didn’t understand our problem, not realizing that their constant safety came at the cost of our constant deaths. They suggested we all stack melee because it’s “safe” there. That time they realized what we were saying and we scrapped that plan quick after they just shelled our neatly bundled up team.
So we decided to opt for one of our Elementalists to run in his Swiftness setup and spend most if not all of the fight being a running target who would clear out Volatile Blossoms. It worked well for the Boss with the Living Nightmare spiders in the Story Mode after all. For my part, I decided to go back to shelling the Vines from far off and the Healing-Oriented Ele would stay with me.
The plan was to go with our experience so far. The Vines seemed to ignore Melee and hate on the Ranged if they are separate, but I was ignored while Mortaring. Therefore, we would try to make them focus on the Uncatchable Elementalist and the rest of us would be fine and dandy.

Things… did not work out as intended. The running Elementalist was fine, but suddenly the Vine’s targeting did not go as we had expected it to. The Vines did NOT focus on the elementalist. Melee was no longer safe and neither was I, they went after me very quickly. We scrapped that plan and thusfar, we’ve been completely unable to predict or control who will be on the receiving end of the Vine’s hate.

Considering that, we all tried to go for a “Medium Range” style approach. I switched to my Flamethrower as part on an effort to manage the Volatile Blossoms. We’d just buckle down, take care of ourselves and Focus down the summoned Vines as they came up. This was the most successful approach. It was hard, but we managed to chip down the Boss Vine’s health and handle the smaller Vines it summons.

And then we hit the moment it summons two Vines at once. Death was swift.

Here we also hit a major Quality-of-Life problem with the encounter. The smaller Vines do not reset after a total wipe, meaning we were staring at beginning the fight against the Boss and two Vines. Worse, a third if it was damage enough to summon another.
It got to the point that whenever this happened, we would accept having to throw one death into the fight so we could kill one vine and begin again.

Even so, we would get consistently slaughtered late into the fight whenever he summoned the Two Vines at once. Without any way to control where or who they target, 3 Vine’s worth of scattered AoE death is too much for us. We’re already deep into a fight, with Cooldowns running and Endurance/Health not at maximum. We also can’t simply scatter because of the Blossoms. Their respawn speed is fast enough that destroying them any more frequently than an “as needed” basis is just a waste of time.

The Vines are very good at covering for each other, and we just don’t know what to do.

I like Dungeons, I really do. I love how we’re responsible for both ourselves and the rest of the team and each fight we win feels very rewarding. It sucks that the Armor Set we love is tied to a Dungeon with a boss we can’t beat.

So, help?