Guild Wars 2

Just bad luck or timing. There’s no difference with/without a present. Don’t forget GW2 acts a bit like classic Super Mario Bros games: You can jump last moment, even if you’re almost off the platform.

Tried my advise from above? I confess, from time to time they still despawn under my feet (if unlucky), but it’s a lot easier if you start early and ignore the blue presents.

Luthan: Check out the video I linked above (starting at 1 minute 40 seconds): Just jump as early as possible, before the blue presents appearing. This buys you additional time and most players won’t try to jump so early and/or fail (since it requires some practice).

Note on Dodging: Tried it and it’s indeed possible to just dodge through the snowman blowing to the left. This way you’ll never have to wait for it to stop, which buys you precious seconds and allows you to wait for the right snowball/crystal pattern if you really have to.

VOLKON.1290:

Wait… it’s the blue presents that blow everything up?

Jumping on any present will start blowing everything up (I think), but as far as I know the timer won’t start while the blue ones aren’t there. With some practice you can just jump on the first row of red ones before the blue ones even spawn, buying you two or three seconds of additional time, making it even possible to hop up in a straight line (if there’s nothing despawned randomly). Just keep in mind the initial pattern is still up to some randomness.

For an example, look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiBJFwZs6Ww&t=1m40s
As you can see, I have no problems getting over 75% of the stair before anything starts popping (since the blue ones are up and people jumping on the presents).

Is it possible that you died the moment you landed inside the box? Happened to me at least twice.

Correct. You’ll get 1-3 based on your choices and completion.

I think my biggest complaint about this JP is the fact that it feels too repetitive. I’d loved to see three more different paths with different challenges or mechanics.

Also the last part it sometimes just too unfair and unforgiving. E.g. the dropping ice shard will knock you down/back AND slow you down so they could as well instant kill you to save you some time, yet they don’t.

Other than that, I love it; possibly my most favorite event JP so far.

Oh, one more note: During my first recording attempts I lagged rather bad, so I think i “lagged down” a few times on some of the snowflakes. In the end, this seemed like getting blown off (you don’t see it directly, you just assume that). If so, try to increase your fps in the game and lower your latency (if possible, e.g. by pausing or stopping running downloads).

You can repeat the jumping puzzle as often as you want to (in fact you have to do it quite often for the achievement). Every run you’ve got the choice of an immediate reward, a respawn point or the bigger reward at the end.

Gulesave.5073:

You don’t have to stay. But it seems you can’t get the all-combat or no-combat achievements on the first passthrough.

I got the no-combat achievement on my first try (logged out in the tower pre-patch and started in the new instance post-patch). Second try I did the combat one. So either they changed something or there’s another reason behind this not being awarded.

Edit: From what I’ve read in another thread: Did you by any chance leave the instance through the green star thingy rather than waiting or using the NPC created mesmer portal?

As far as I know there’s only one part where you can get blown off the map and that’s right after the presents/parcels part. There’s a “snowman statue” blowing from the right. If you’re unlucky, it will either drop you into the pit or cause you to wait for too long so you can’t finish in time.

I think my average time for the whole JP is somewhere around 2:30. Uploaded a quick run here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiBJFwZs6Ww (There are a few annotations with hints).

IMO you won’t have to “pool up” right before the parcels. Just wait for them to respawn (will happen even if noone “starts” them), then jump before the blue ones are up and you’ve got lots of time to do it.

Posted some more notes and a video link here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/wintersday2013/Jumping-Puzzle-Raaage/3350194

Took me a while to figure out as well, so made a quick annotated video. Hope it’s helpful for some of you. Make sure to enable annotations (available both in German as well as English).

Basically, there are just a few easy and simple things to consider making the whole thing a lot easier to get through:

• Try to play with 30+ fps. This makes it a lot easier. I’m usually able to play with 30-60 fps, but on my first attempt at recording my fps dropped below 20 and it became rather hard.

• Don’t rush. You can wait at the start as well as right before the parcels, especially if there are many others starting right now as well.

• If you’re lacking time in the first part of the puzzle (platforms), try skipping some of them. There are at least three plattforms you can skip quite easily.

• Don’t use the keyboard to turn around, keep your right mouse button pushed during the whole run and turn with your mouse. This requires some practice but gets you faster and more precise movement.

Regarding the parcel/present part

• Ignore the blue parcels. Those are supposed to make it easier, but they really limit the time you’ve got to finish the puzzle.

• Wait for respawn, but start jumping the moment one of the red parcels next to your platform is up. Don’t wait for the blue ones and you’ve got a few more precious seconds to do it.

The last part (snowballs)

• Don’t try to skip any of the “resting platforms” along the way.

• The pattern repeats itself, but not with every snowball. I’ve noticed there’s an easy pattern (no ice dropping right before the last resting point) as well as a hard pattern (two ice crystals dropping before the last resting point; making it almost impossible).

I guess people just expect some hint like “hey, there’s new living story content up and this time it’s about X”. Not every game patch introduces new content and you’ll still need to know what’s new (and people tend to not like digging websites or forums).

I’ll just ignore that reward. I’d just stash any skin and forget about it.

But, if they want to reward some stuff used in crafting or some recipes, why not rewarding a bunch of different fractal currency items? Would fit the whole theme as well. But instead they add some more pointless materials most won’t really care about anyway, because it’s either grind and you already did it or you don’t intend to do (you probably won’t start just due to getting one item for free).

I guess the Tower finale will come in two weeks with the next update. That allows them to remove the tower while still allowing everyone four weeks with the full content (we’re just in week 3 with the tower being open now).

Uh, nice. Didn’t even think of that, but an addon adding such colored outlines has been one of my bread and butter addons in Warhammer Online.

I’ve got a mail from Rox regarding new players and lots of this that regarding recent living story stuff (i.e. a short sentence mentioning Aetherblades, Toxic Alliance, etc.), but that’s it. Don’t think it’s event related.

Also this seems to be the weakest “Living World” update so far, considering the new achievements/content are really just “run all fractals” and the rewards are down to crafting materials now?

There are actually two exits. You can take the small passage to get outside (where the second jumping/diving goggle point is) or you can use the classic green “leave instance” point. The latter will bring you back to the entrance of the instance (so you can rejoin or open the treasure chest).

Hm… blocked due to GEMA claiming the rights on the audio track for Germany… what’s in the video?

Northlander.4619:

I don’t know why people dislike Scarlet. She is a bit cartoony but I find her funny.

Basically it’s “just the same old thing once again”. The events/tasks are repetitive but at least we’ve got some new story tidbits. That changed. There’s something new happening – oh some surprise – aaaand it’s Scarlet! There’s a new alliance between Netherblades and Nightmare Court – oh, it’s Scarlet! Now something new and… yeah… always the same thing? If things are going to repeat themselves without significant changes there’s no need for a “living story”. They could just add one or two new random events every month and it might essentially be the same or even better. That’s the problem IMO.

Fjandi.2516:

Clearly they are not as stupid as some gw2 players…
I doubt they will ever revert this change tbh. Sadly.

Unfortunately this is more serious than just some people not liking the previous textures (or feeling offended). There are some very old and very dumb laws in Germany regarding the use of kitten symbolism (even out of context). In short (my layman terms; I’m no lawyer): You’re not allowed to reproduce these, unless it’s some historical document or art (art covers movies, Pictures, etc. but not video games).

If they keep it in the game, they might get sued for depicting it and the game might have to be pulled from store shelves and online for Germany/German audience. Sounds ridiculous? Yes, it is in some way or another. Considering it’s really just some tiny texture many possibly don’t even notice (and due to the low res you can’t even be sure it’s meant to be a swastika).

Remember the latest Wolfenstein game from 2008 or 2009? All copies had to be pulled from German store shelves despite being cut/censored already. The reason: They forgot to remove one low res swastika on a document that’s depicted on one wall in the whole game. Sad, but true.

The chests reset rather fast, probably within two or three attempts (might depend on how fast people fail or how far they get). Reward for completing it the first time has been the gloves and two costume potions. Further attempts only got me a few more candy bags I think.

LinkR.6190:

That just raises the question: what WOULD a snowflake node look like…? An ice block?

Pretty easy, you can even get one for your real home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYyqKjqxlNU Makes you lots of snowflakes, although it’s quite timegated as you can see in the video.

Xae Isareth.1364:

The problem is that I don’t think they can work fast enough to give you decent content and a decent storyline.

Possible, but it’s also like they could make only one content update per month, giving each month it’s own special theme. You’d always get one content patch, one balancing patch. Everyone happy. They’re forcing the bi-weekly updates on their own. I’m happy to wait a bit more for more/better content, which would also give completionists more time to finish everything.

Right now we get pretty much the same content once every 2-4 weeks with slightly modifications or different skins/themes. I’d consider that worse then slower updates, but maybe I’m just used to different schedules (like one or two expansions/big patches a year).

I guess it’s PvP to force all characters into an alternate copy of themselves with no abilities and passive bonuses, plus different views for everyone (i.e. different team → whisp).

Well gloves… But yeah, expected some hidden achievement or something like that. Still fun to do, though (most fun part of this event for me).

Got up there three times. First try I jumped one rotation too early. The clock shatters when it passes you for the third time (unless you’re really slow the last bit of the way since you’ll have to wait at the last round platform/cog).

Second and third time I jumped till I saw the clock returning for the third time and I just jumped when I knew it would be right in front of me in ~1-2 seconds. Got in there every time; also it seems like you don’t really have to hit the hole specifically. Both times I clipped through the wall left to the hole and got in/ported.

Xae Isareth.1364:

I’m not sure if giving each their own unique mechanics would be a good thing. Look a Tequatl: they buffed it up from a giant meatbag to a giant meatbag that requires a bit of co-ordination and look what happened.

Diversity, but not forcing extreme group coordination. Think of some of the more complex events.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Do I? I got to a room where I can choose between the Clocktower and the PvP minigame. Hmm.

There is a portal platform near the NPC you can activate to enter the Labyrinth below.

Malchior.5042:

Achievements is the only method they have of tracking progress in a story right now. That’s why it’s the method used for every Living Story.

Completely valid point (and also the way I understand this issue). However, there’s a difference between gating the content behind some achievements, so people actually do something as part of the “quest”, and locking content behind grind. While not all achievements are grindy and there’ll most likely be easy daily achievements as well, most will still consider it “work” rather than “fun” or (more important) “experiencing the living story”.

If I’d be in charge, I’d create two achievement groups (similar to how they did the Tequatl remake; although they splitted permanent and temporary content):

• A small achievement group locking the story progress. This would include generic tasks like “visit the Labyrinth”, “kill the Lich”, “visit the Clock Tower”, maybe even “close 5 doors”. This is reasonable and everyone can complete it in one or two afternoons on their own schedule.
• A second achievement group would then include the other achievements for the OCD people who just love hunting achievement points, want to complete everything , show they’ve beaten the very special boss or the extra hard jumping puzzle, etc. Here’d be achievements like “close 50 doors”, “reach the top of the Clock Tower”, or “open 100 candy bags”, etc.

Problem solved, everyone would be happy. Will they do it (in future events)? Unfortunately (and most likely) not.

@Awe:
It really depends on how you approach “new content”. Take a look back at Flame and Frost or whatever it was called. It was really well made. There were multiple arcs, several (albeit short) story instances, new characters to meet and even a bit of grind (but just a little bit).

Unfortunately, later events moved the attention to achievements and even now even people, who don’t care about achievements but want to experience the actual living story, can’t do so, because the story content is locked behind grindy achievements (let’s be honest; at least a few of those achievements are very grindy; we don’t know how the daily achievements will be so far). Also keep in mind that daily achievements can be bugged (as seen last Sunday), so you should still do as many live event achievements as you’re able to do, if you’d like to experience the story.

Rachael Augg.2379:

We are currently investigating the issue, it appears to be occurring on random servers.

Missed the Skeleton and Lich achievements once; but got both on second try in the very same overflow instance. So in case anyone suffers from this, just keep trying.

Nqqb.2607:

The only thing to do in GW2 right now is farm. Running around, pressing 1, and following the blue triangle. I came back today for the Halloween event and I’m already back to being bored.

Feeling similar. This is just the same old “chase event sites” zerg rush we’ve had for weeks (months?). Story is once again limited to one or two short story insances. Those are actually well made, but it doesn’t help the whole thing feeling somehow lacking.

As for the actual event zone (the labyrinth), I’ve already talked about that in another thread, but I’d quote myself, cause I think it actually fits even better here:

Smaxx.2318:

Paul Belz.7351:

There are 3 legendary creatures in the labyrinth and they each have their own event and achievement for defeating them. They are:

The Labyrinthine Horror, the Grand High Viscount of Candy Corn, and the Skeletal Lich.

And here I see one of the biggest design flaws of the whole zone (or “event” in general). I’m no professional game dev; only did some indie niveau development so far, but from my experience of playing MMOs for about 12 years:

• There are indeed three different bosses with their own little events, although all three are very basic: giant meat bags with different aoe damage effects being able to kill most characters in just a few wills. There is no special mechanic, nothing to figure out, just brawling.
• There doesn’t seem to be any incentive to go into the dungeon besides those three bosses and their achievements. Why? The standard events inside seem to be essentially the same you can find outside in the world. Why repeating content?
• There is absolutely no exploration: Nothing to add here; there are no secrets, there is no jumping puzzle, not even some gravestones with jokes on them or whatever (unless I really missed those). It’s just an area filled with ressource nodes and tons and tons of fast respawning monsters.
• The area isn’t accessible without a zerg. This point essentially belongs to the previous two points: There’s no content for solo players or people being in small groups. In addition to that, most (if not all) encounters are dumbed down to “just wait till it dies” events once a “critical mass” of players is reached.

One more point, but that’s more opinion based:

• There are just like 3 or 4 different enemies in different colors/variations. While this isn’t bad in general, I’m not a real fan of “candy corn elementals” or “plastic spiders”. Let’s be honest, this isn’t mad in-character or anything and it’s definitely not something I’d consider apropriate for an RPG. It’s just mad design wise, although that’s really up to interpretation. Skeletons are a welcome addition considering most other undead are just zombies.

To be honest, this really feels like the most lacking living world event so far (I started playing earlier this year during the Flame and Frost arc). I’m not sure what changed compared to last year, cause I’ve read multiple times that people were looking forward to it. The generic appearance of the new zone is nice and apropriate. I also like the clock tower. But the events, achievements (ugh? why always make a grind out of events?), and the monsters are just stuff people won’t remember (in a positive way). I’d even consider it boring.

Paul Belz.7351:

There are 3 legendary creatures in the labyrinth and they each have their own event and achievement for defeating them. They are:

The Labyrinthine Horror, the Grand High Viscount of Candy Corn, and the Skeletal Lich.

And here I see one of the biggest design flaws of the whole zone (or “event” in general). I’m no professional game dev; only did some indie niveau development so far, but from my experience of playing MMOs for about 12 years:

• There are indeed three different bosses with their own little events, although all three are very basic: giant meat bags with different aoe damage effects being able to kill most characters in just a few wills. There is no special mechanic, nothing to figure out, just brawling.
• There doesn’t seem to be any incentive to go into the dungeon besides those three bosses and their achievements. Why? The standard events inside seem to be essentially the same you can find outside in the world. Why repeating content?
• There is absolutely no exploration: Nothing to add here; there are no secrets, there is no jumping puzzle, not even some gravestones with jokes on them or whatever (unless I really missed those). It’s just an area filled with ressource nodes and tons and tons of fast respawning monsters.
• The area isn’t accessible without a zerg. This point essentially belongs to the previous two points: There’s no content for solo players or people being in small groups. In addition to that, most (if not all) encounters are dumbed down to “just wait till it dies” events once a “critical mass” of players is reached.

One more point, but that’s more opinion based:

• There are just like 3 or 4 different enemies in different colors/variations. While this isn’t bad in general, I’m not a real fan of “candy corn elementals” or “plastic spiders”. Let’s be honest, this isn’t mad in-character or anything and it’s definitely not something I’d consider apropriate for an RPG. It’s just mad design wise, although that’s really up to interpretation. Skeletons are a welcome addition considering most other undead are just zombies.

To be honest, this really feels like the most lacking living world event so far (I started playing earlier this year during the Flame and Frost arc). I’m not sure what changed compared to last year, cause I’ve read multiple times that people were looking forward to it. The generic appearance of the new zone is nice and apropriate. I also like the clock tower. But the events, achievements (ugh? why always make a grind out of events?), and the monsters are just stuff people won’t remember (in a positive way). I’d even consider it boring.

Did the dungeon yesterday on my (Berserker build) Mesmer. Some parts can get hairy, but I haven’t had any problems at the last boss (usually using Mind Wrack and the other shatter abilities). Just don’t use any illusions while the shield is up.

Personally I used a greatsword, and I’d even suggest you do, too. The range is nice to get attention. Once the shield is down, spawn as many illusions as you want shatter them, etc. just make sure further (pirate) adds explode almost next to the boss and you won’t have any problems.

The scepter illusions should be perfectly fine as well, considering they’ll spawn right next to the boss. Just don’t do it while the shield is up, as the illusions will make it rather hard (or impossible) to properly pull the boss into the pirates.

So far it seems like only the meta achievement for “Twilight Assault” (“Twilight Assaulted”) is time limited. The other category for the path (with the mini pet) will stay permanently.

Same problem here and it’s definitely not a hard drive issue (GW2 sitting on a SSD) nor a slow graphics card (GTX 680).

Also noticed the game “culling” large parts of Divinity’s Reach: When porting in there from somewhere outside more than once I’ve found myself standing in the air while the surroundings load “building by building”.

There’s definitely something amiss.

Yes, seems like this is the typical special “you’ll need lots of time and/or luck to complete this” achievement.

The only part I really dislike is the fact you’ve got no visible list to see. I’d wish achievements like this one would contain a list with check boxes similar to how similar achievements in (some ) Steam games or in Blizzard games are done.

No, I expected another, more interesting mechanic that doesn’t just revolve around “wait 20+ minutes to get a chance on a single fight, win or lose”, rinse and repeat.

Just check their past broadcasts once the stream is over (might be available earlier and really depends on the servers sometimes).

Let’s be honest, I obviously haven’t played the new content yet, but I’m already disappointed. And, believe it or not, this has been the first Living Story content i was excited about hearing from the get-go.

But why?

Let’s start with the initial announcement text:

Fight in the Queen’s Gauntlet – Begins August 6
In the special Queen’s Gauntlet, you will face increasingly difficult challenges of single-combat against unique bosses. Cheer on your friends or show off your skills to the world. Take a risk with special gambit conditions to earn even more prestigious rewards!

This announcement doesn’t tell you the content is temporary, it doesn’t tell you it’s extra hard (which I don’t mind) and it doesn’t tell you it’s also limiting the number of people being able to play at any single time. It’s nice being able to spectate, but at the same time if I think back how crowded/lagging previous mini games have been, I don’t expect being able to play this any time soon.

But what did I expect that made me excited?

I might have to explain a bit more I guess:

Have you ever played Final Fantasy VII?

Yes, it’s an old game, about 15 years old, but still loved by its fans. The initial announcement immediately reminded me of a mini game you could find in this JRPG classic: Battle Square.

Here’s a short rundown for those that never played the game:

• It’s a series of solo battles (one player character) versus one or more enemies at once.
• You start with your usual equipment (no artifical limitation here).
• Once you’ve defeated an enemy you can quit and take your rewards or continue.
• If you’re defeated you get nothing at all (well, actually you get a handkerchief IIRC).
• If you continue, you’ll get a random handicap applied (e.g. no longer able to cast spells or use items) unless you’re very lucky.
• There are several rounds, increasing in difficulty (due to the enemies as well as added handicaps).

This is what I expected from Queen’s Gauntlet (and I thought it would be a permanent addition). No “it’s extra hard you’ll have to dedicate hours to even get in” content.

What do you think? If you want, wait for the content patch tomorrow, but I’d really like to hear what you’d rather have. The current implementation or something similar to the FF7 one. I’d prefer the latter any time.