Given how Costume Brawl has come along, and the references to Polymock Arenas that you can’t get to yet, it seems pretty much a given that we’re going to be seeing Pokemon-style miniature battles at some point, right?
The geological evolution of Tyria appears to be dictated by magical titans, gods, and primordial dragons. I’m willing to give the plate tectonics a pass in the same way that I’m not skeptical of the physically-improbable number of magic-blighted apocalyptic landscapes.
In short: a wizard did it.
I’m confused by the jumping puzzles too. They’re creative and implemented reasonably well given the constraints of the engine and the UI. But they’re not done well, mostly because of the camera, but also because they’re poorly integrated into the overall scheme of the game. That is, they’re something separate and outside of the rest of the content. Their loot is rarely useful to any other activity in the game, they don’t advance the story, they’re not particularly social, they don’t tend to give cosmetic rewards, and the achievement system that they contribute towards is one of the less compelling parts of the game.
I mean, again, they’re there, you’ve made them, that’s great, I’d rather have them than have them deleted. But what’s your aim here? Are there really people that say, “I’ll play THIS online game because it has jumping puzzles and the competitors don’t”? Do you envisage there being players who have finished all the jumping puzzles and who are going to switch to another game unless they get more jumping puzzles in the next update? Do you feel that the players who enjoy jumping puzzles are the same players who’ll spend real money at the Black Lion?
I just can’t see the design rationale behind these, or why Anet would spend development resources making more of them. Again – not saying they’re bad or they’re unfun, just that they’re a baffling choice of development priorities.
Finished the Clocktower. Still say it’s a bad idea – it needs to either be year-round, or easier. The combination of a very high level of challenge and a time pressure to get it done before the event ends is what’s stressing people out.
I’ve never seen the logic behind people claiming that “too difficult” can never be a valid complaint. Clearly if it was so difficult that no one could ever finish it, it would be broken. If it was so difficult only one player ever finished it, it would be broken. If it was so difficult only 1% of the player base finished it, it would be broken (considering that I doubt that’s the design intention). So there’s a line – it’s possible for it to be so difficult that it’s broken. Where that line is is subjective. And people anecdotally saying they think it’s too difficult is the only way to determine the line.
I mean, Anet can determine it objectively, I guess. They presumably have stats on the number of attempts and the number of successes, and they can say, gee, we expected 75% of players to get it within 20 attempts, or something, but it’s more like 50% within 60 attempts, in which case it’s objectively broken because it doesn’t meet the design intention.
I was pretty much assuming it would be like the first GW1 halloween – Mad King shows up, plays Simon Says, gives out free goodies and a unique pumpkin hat.
Hadn’t even considered it might be something else. Although having finished Mad Memories Part 2, it does seem as though we’re going to have to track down six bits of his body or something before he can turn up.
My problem isn’t that it’s a different level. It’s not even Anets fault. I blame myself on thinking about it further. I expected the same company that we had in gw1. That is my own fault. Now that I know what I’m dealing with though I will just adjust my own habits accordingly.
Wait, wasn’t pretty much all the substantial free new content in GW1 aimed at characters who’d already completed at least one campaign? Or did I hallucinate all of that Winds of Change stuff?
Total length of Halloween event = 10 days.
Time needed to level character from 1 to 80 from a fresh start = 7 days.
Time needed to level character from 1 to 80 if you already have crafting mats for cheap XP = 1 day.
I’m not sure I see the problem?
Just adding my peevedness at the clocktower.
Yes, it’s very hard. Yes, with practice I’m going to beat it. How much practice? I’m currently at about 2 hours. I reckon I’m looking at another hour to get there. I’ve been playing platformers since the 80s; yes, a lot of people are going to have beaten this a lot faster than me. But a lot of people are not going to be able to do it at all.
I don’t have to rely on anecdotal evidence; Anet’s stats are going be backing me up. They’re going to be showing a very high proportion of players giving up, and that those who succeed have an extremely high average number of attempts before they get there.
If this was a year-round jumping puzzle it’d be great. I could try for a half hour, go do some other stuff, come back next week, try again. It’d be something to work up to.
But, as I understand it, it’s not. Halloween event finishes 1 November, and this is the only weekend over that period (and thus the only time to really sit down and bash these achievements out). There’s two acts to come, but it doesn’t seem likely either was planned to nerf the clocktower, so let’s assume this is as easy as it gets.
Yes, the achievement is small and skippable. Yes, the slippers are unexciting. Yes, it’s not part of the meta. But it’s content. I want to see the content. You could make every dungeon in the game so hard only 1% of players could finish them; and say, “Well, the dungeons are skippable”. I think people would be rightly annoyed if that was the case. It’s there; the intention is players should interact with it, be challenged by it, and then gain satisfaction and fun by overcoming the challenge.
Yes, if it’s too easy, the top end of players won’t be challenged and won’t have fun. Yes, if it’s too hard, the bottom end of players won’t be able to play it and won’t have fun. Currently, you have the balance wrong. It needs to be a little easier, which will probably peeve the top 5% of players, but gratify the bottom 50%.
Or… make it available all year round. That’s fine too. Really it’s the pressure to get it done before it goes away that makes it so aggravating.
Thanks.