Guild Wars 2

Legendary is going to take way more time than just reaching 80. By a huge margin, even if you’re lucky.

Exploration is usually the “best” way to level because literally every aspect of exploration grants experience. WvW might be faster if you are in the right matchup (decent server population that WvW’s at times that are good for you, but a matchup that’s competitive enough for camps, keeps, towers etc. to regularly be flipped).

If you were willing to spend real money, converting it to gold to fund a bunch of crafting would probably be the quickest. Would be a waste of money but hey, your call.

But it’s true, just getting to level 30 won’t be enough for you to have a good dungeon experience. Being at the minimum level in general makes them tougher, but especially you need to be good enough at your class to be able to adapt it to a group environment and be able to play more tactically than in normal PvE.

You don’t have to reach the chest in a JP to get credit for finding the location (for the monthly)… at least for some of them. I want to say that one or two of the ones I tried didn’t register until I was maybe halfway through the puzzle. Some are reporting getting credit at the start of puzzles. All I can say is that I got credit for all 4 that I tried last night, and only officially finished 2 of them.

Doesn’t mean it’s not bugged, or maybe set too specifically for where you have to be to get credit (overly finnicky about positioning at the entrance maybe). Some official clarification on what is supposed to be required would be nice, if it can be given without “giving away” too much wrt the puzzles.

Fort Vandal is the correct name, if there was any doubt. Skrittsatawney and Seanan’s Bandits are different POIs in Brisban (each in a different named sub-area).

Have you tried turning on the combat log in the chat window? Does that provide much of the info you’re looking for?

Imarion.1650:

Hello,
that’s great news and then I can be fine with it.

Actually yesterday I did my second jumping puzzle leading to a vista.

The first one I did was in Kessex Hills in the south east. It leads to a vista (and a skill point too). Now maybe there is another way. I confess I followed a guide I found on the net.

At that time I already thought about posting my message, but I passed and thought, let’s see …
Then yesterday I came accross this second one in Dredgehaunt cliffs at the south west. I’m not sure about the broken wall, I hope it is this one

Imarion

Wall breach blitz is in diessa plateau, so it’s not the one you’ve done.

Actually for the kessex hills one you don’t have to do the jumping puzzle, you can just sort of jump down the cliffs from the Isgarren’s View POI in the southeast and reach the vista. Don’t know if it’s the intended route but it’s definitely possible.

Kaimick.5109:

Rising Dusk.2408:

There are actually 3 vistas that require the completion of jump puzzles in-game:
- Vizier’s Tower, Straits of Devastation
- Wall Breach Blitz, Diessa Plateau
- Tribulation Rift Scaffolding, Dredgehaunt Cliffs

That said, as far as jumping puzzles go, these ones are rather easy (though the latter two will kill you if you fall from later parts of them). I tend to agree with Kaimick that the reason this is as it is is to give people a taste of jump puzzles. I mean, they require WvW completion with the 100% exploration title, too, so it doesn’t surprise me any that they try to immerse you into jumping puzzles as well.

Yes there are Vistas near
- Tribulation Rift Scaffolding, Dredgehaunt Cliffs
- Vizier’s Tower, Straits of Devastation

But they are at the begin of the puzzles not at the end. You can gain the vistas and never complete the actual puzzle it self unlike in
- Wall Breach Blitz, Diessa Plateau

Which is the only Vista that requires you to complete a Jumping puzzle to get.

Tribulation rift vista is at the end of the tribulation rift jp (within a stone’s throw of the chest); although perhaps technically not at the end, it is after all of the jumping sections of that jumping puzzle. Tribulation caverns JP is the one that starts from there on. 2 JPs in one.

I don’t see how they could add anything “mandatory” in future content, since people already have 100% world completion/gifts of exploration/etc. It’s not something I’d be worried about at least.

I get the frustration with platforming for the 100% world completion title, frivolous as it may ultimately be. But I think it’s justified for the gifts of exploration/legendary. You have to be good at multiple facets of the game to “earn” a legendary, and jumping puzzles are fair game there.

There are others besides wall breach blitz that are jumping puzzles (or puzzle-ish). Tribulation rift is the big one, but to be fair they nerfed it a bit after the halloween (?) update so it’s not as frustrating as it used to be. Others require a bit more platforming than most would probably expect in an MMO even if they aren’t true jps but I always figured that was the point of the vistas, forcing you into sort of hard-to-reach areas for the sake of the view.

I made the golem and the soldier. Was going to make the griffon but the golem was just too cute (plus the griffon makes a better transform than the golem). Wiped out basically all my gold making the other 3 into tonics but, hey, ’tis the season right?

Ranking them, I say:
Soldier
Ventari
Golem
Griffon
Princess

Although the princess goes up in rank if you include creepiness factor as a positive.

I think they already have the framework in to do a scaled (sort of) jumping puzzle experience. This current puzzle has 3 paths that you’re randomly assigned to. They just happen to be all (basically) the same difficulty. In a future design, without changing the scale very much, they could probably make 3 paths that were all different difficulties, and treat them as 3 separate puzzles that you got to choose from (for achievement purposes, if that matters) that just sort of converge and are built on the same framework/map/scenery. If you’re really good, do all 3. If not, do the easiest one and maybe try the next level up. Either way you’ll get to experience the puzzle environment, you just might not finish every branch completely.

I think they’d probably want to keep some aspects of each one unique, so that if you really did put in the time to get good at the hardest level you’d get some sort of unique experience (besides just a potentially better reward, if that’s what they did) but you could do that and still give multiple levels of difficulty with similar overall experiences (scenery wise and such).

Well played as in well built (traits, weapons, skills) but also well managed (knowing how and when to use what attunement and such).

Check the elementalist subforum (or any profession’s subforum really) if you want examples of the best ways to play it. I’m not very good with elementalist, but those who are can be monsters.

Elementalist or Mesmer maybe? A well-played Elementalist is nearly unstoppable, but not easy to start out with.

What style of play are you looking for?

Assuming there’s no technical reason to limit the number of titles available, they could also just make each puzzle have a title associated with it. That way you could choose which one you’re most “proud” of and decide to show it off. Granted, some of them would be almost totally ignored but at least that way you don’t have to worry about moving goalposts in terms of completeness.

Shift + click a waypoint or point of interest on the map to link to it in the chat window as part of your message. Or ctrl + click it, but in that case it sends the message right away so you can’t add extra text (can also do this with items and skills).

I noticed that it automatically resets you if you don’t choose your profession after the last timer reset (as in you have to wait until it actually starts, then choose, then leave). If it’s still doing it after that then maybe it’s being even more touchy about the timing.

You don’t have to die to change classes, though. Just find a spot out of combat and use the return to base (or whatever) skill, what is it number 9 or something on the skill bar?

Get lucky with high level loot drops, learn to play the market (buy low/sell high, tougher than normal to do with the 15% tax on transactions obviously), and get good at farming in general.

I got 25 glue, but it might have been from a personalized gift… I can’t remember. I ended up buying what I needed for the tonic though.

Or just have forcing them to drop the package proc the achievement immediately, as long as you’ve done x amount of damage to them within y seconds before they drop it. Forcing them to drop it and retreat, even if they get a chance to heal up (or whatever), is still sort of stopping them.

I’d suggest farming Orr/Frostgorge, but it’d take a bit to get to them without wasting money on the waypoints.

Southsun Cove is where you might want to go; you can take the ship from lion’s arch there for free. Are karka shells still selling well? Even if they’re not, you can get some orichalcum ore there (especially if you can sneak to the rich node) plus mithril, ancient wood, cypress.

This only works if you can afford the gathering tools though.

The reusable toy transform tonics use 50 of the stuffing/glue per attempt. Of course that doesn’t change that you could make them 5/25 instead of 50/250 if you wanted to and still have the same effect (although IINM when they drop randomly it’s in stacks of 25… so maybe you could go 5/10/50 instead of 25/50/250… whatever).

I can’t give you comparisons to tera or other MMO’s, but…

PvE content ends up being pretty static on a micro level (kiting and such still matters for how you approach groups of enemies, but in a one-on-one fight you can usually get by without moving all that much as most enemies aren’t very mobile), unless it’s something like a boss (champion) fight where you have to keep your distance/evade at times to survive. PvP is a different animal obviously.

Blocking, such as it is (the boon “aegis”) is not universally available. Some profession mechanics, traits, and skills give it to you as an option though. The only universal damage-avoidance is dodging (by default you get 2 dodges before depleting your endurance, then have to wait for it to refill at least halfway to dodge again).

As it is here the only random factors are critical hits and whether any runes’/sigils’/traits’ special effects will proc. Theoretically pretty much everything else is under your control if you have the right tactics and timing.

And it may sound obvious, but your choice of profession can have a dramatic impact on how the combat feels. I imagine a guardian is somewhat straightforward based on what you’re describing, but hey you won’t know until you try.

You’ll be able to do them all once he gets to lion’s arch, won’t you? Of course if the achievement itself is bugged for you that might not matter…

Most skills lock on to whatever you have targeted, but they can miss if you’re not positioned correctly, or if the target can dodge or move away quickly enough.

Some skills are not locked on but target an area of the ground (selected with the mouse cursor). Others target an area surrounding your character.

No, I know what you’re talking about.

The normal exit instance door icon only pops up once you beat the dungeon. But at the south (I think) side of the instance there should be the familiar “dungeon” map marker door. I haven’t tried it, but that is probably the way to exit without finishing.

Which one specifically?

If it’s the jumping puzzle: there’s a portal on the floor in the waiting area, and one at the end.

If it’s the dungeon: there’s a dungeon door marked on the map at the south (?) end of the room where Tixx is (assuming this works, never tried it). Also the little door icon that pops up once you finish the questlines to leave the instance.

Don’t both the games have that same door/instance icon as well?

Karma booster that occasionally drops from black lion chests.

Guild karma banner

And perhaps ice cream consumable? Don’t know if that works on jugs or not.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Karma

To be fair, a Legendary wouldn’t be very Legendary if you didn’t at least dip your toe in the PvP side of the game. Some people hate when others camp the jumping puzzle, and I get that. Some people have a blast camping the jumping puzzle, and I get that too. All part of the game.

Best I can offer? Transfer to a tier with low population and/or a lopsided matchup so that the jumping puzzles are empty and/or generally under allied control.

Trading post.

Farm for materials (both as loot drops and from resource nodes) and sell them on the trading post. You’re not going to make very much money at a low level no matter what, though. Best you can hope for is that you luck into finding a lot of unidentified dyes. Can either take your chances identifying them (hoping to find a really rare one) or just sell them unidentified.

Well, as long as the wintersday stuff is going on, you could do a lot of activities and such to get lots of gifts, then open them hoping to get a skin or something (even if you end up with a bunch of sweaters or socks, save them to trade for an unsafe wintersday gift and hope for a skin there). Sell the skin or the gifts themselves on the trading post.

Zerging in WvW? Seems like the minor points flip back and forth so often (depending on your matchup) that you should be able to do ok there.

It also hurts that you can be thrown off by others… well, not exactly, but if you play it to try and match everyone else’s rhythm, you might all end up off. Kind of have to ignore the sound and go just by the visuals. Maybe I’m lucky (not usually one for lag issues), but for me if I miss it’s generally because I’m going too early. It seems relatively generous for hitting the note late.

In addition to Lion’s Arch (which is always the most populated), over the next 3 days or so people are going to be focusing on whichever racial city is currently hosting Tixx. But they’ll all be there for the dungeon, so if you don’t have an interest in that it may not be worth going there.

I’m among those that think A.net should be a little more upfront about the odds of getting something you want from the random boxes/chests/etc. (especially for the people who are just getting into the game now and won’t have the experience to fall back on), but on the whole you shouldn’t be buying it without recognizing the risks of RNG.

I agree that the achievements promote poor team play overall, but my own thinking is… oh well? The snowball game is good fun whether you win or lose. Honestly some of the best fun is when it devolves into an all out bloodbath and nobody really bothers with the gifts (lasts longer that way too).

If enough people care about the extra gifts you get from winning, they’ll try to win. If they don’t, just enjoy it for what it is. I completely understand how frustrating it must be to want to win when nobody else seems to, but might as well enjoy the ride as much as possible, right?

EDIT: And for the record, I’ve been seeing mixed results in terms of team play. I think, if anything, movement speed might be the worst part. If you’re covering someone bringing in a gift all the way to the end, you have no chance of covering the next gift because you won’t get to it before someone grabs it (so unless it’s your team and you want to provide mid-hill cover, you’re a non-factor). If the gift carrier is even a moderate distance away from you you won’t catch them unless they get bogged down in a multi-person fight.

If anyone other than scouts could provide reliable gap closing (heavy’s jump shot is too limited in range IMO) I think people would be much more willing/able to work with/against the gift carriers. As it is, the matches are too short and the players too slow for a good team dynamic to develop. At least that’s my thinking on it.

The Dolls and the Ventari are both very overpowered compared to the Skritt (or, rather, the Skritt are underpowered if you want to look at it that way). It’s jarring at first, but otherwise all in good fun and makes sense as a sort of random risk associated with the gifts.

I do think they scale poorly with low level zones, though. That and the dolls are just so… creepy. Far scarier than anything encountered during the halloween event, that’s for sure.

Love it, and think it would be cool if there were a way to just enter a [possibly solo] freestyle mode, just to mess around/compose/whatever you want to do. I think it would be interesting to see what people could come up with with no time limit and endless chances at experimentation.

I don’t know what to tell you in terms of raw scenery (I imagine the dev team tried to keep them somewhat balanced in terms of resources), but maybe try one that’s in an area where there are just tons of players for one reason or another? E.g. the one at the grove near the Tixx dungeon entrance would have been one to try on Saturday.

Either that or go by any areas that normally give you frame stuttering, if that’s what you’re trying to test.

Shlamorel.8714:

It’s crazy how long this method of obtaining BL keys has been possible yet how quiet it’s been til recently.

I’m guilty of not knowing myself until a week ago… Fortunately had a lot of mats saved. I woder if they’ll remove this feature eventually?

Strictly speaking, isn’t the only reason it’s profitable now due to the increased cost of gems vs. gold? I thought someone did the math when lost shores first started out and it turned out not to be worth it then.

After green (masterwork) is yellow (rare) then orange (exotic) then pink (ascended) then purple (legendary)

It lagged for me yesterday; stayed on the main page when I tried to open sell tab, closed and reopened and it was showing the sell tab when it was supposed to be on the main page.

Closing and reopening, then switching tabs seemed to fix it though. I guess it was just slow loading initially.

I like the idea of them introducing something (other than manipulating populations) to disturb the equilibrium between the tiers, but I don’t know how you do it while still being “fair.” The biggest issue is that the competitive balance of WvW has an impact on the game’s economy (albeit a small one) via the world bonuses.

I think simply rearranging the tiers (like swapping a A3 and B1) is probably not enough; you’d probably just end up back where you started sooner or later unless the swap prompts population changes.

EDIT: I should also add that it’d be interesting to see some asymmetric aspects to the various borderlands (perhaps randomized rather than based on rank), although I don’t have specific ideas in mind at the moment. If you did it right you could nudge some servers one way or the other rankwise, but it would come across as either kicking the bottom ranked servers while they’re down or giving the winners more help than they need, which isn’t ideal.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Kryta

Best I can tell you is to go through and either look at the lists (which may be incomplete) or check the maps for all named areas, comparing to what you have unlocked. Assuming you have 100%ed each area, you can ignore named areas that have POIs/skill points/etc. since you would have to have gone there, but there are lots of areas left over that might have been overlooked.

Places like Beggar’s Burrow in Queensdale, Provernic Crypt in Gendarran Fields, and Ourobore Caves in Harathi Hinterlands seem like easy ones to skip but there are others as well. Check the jumping puzzles too, just in case, although it seems to be flaky about whether or not it counts those types of areas sometimes.

Reasons to do hidden gardens:

Jumping puzzle [achievement]
2 Sets of diving goggles [achievement]
It’s a beautiful area/kinda unique
You like jumping puzzles

Good enough for me. Chests from jumping puzzles have never been worth it, unless you’re talking the sanctums (santca?)

Pretty sure the medal/achievement is triggered at the end of your 30-40 questline. Would assume the armor is the same but haven’t tried it.

Guardian is easier to play solo as long as you’re not in a situation where you need to engage at range. Engineer is a much better ranged option.

I haven’t 80’d a Guardian to know the ins and outs of how it plays in Orr (have an 80 Engie but only 55 Guardian), but there’s no question that it’s going to be easier [solo] once I do get there in most situations.

What skills/weapons/kits do you have available? If you can kite the enemies one at a time and then use mines/battering ram to control them you might get away with it solo.

LithePanther.5027:

I think it has to be 7 different fractals.

Last month I was 6/7 and did the giant fractal (which I had done to get to 6/7) and it did not give me credit

It definitely wasn’t 7 unique fractals last month; I got it by doing Dredge twice and Snowblind twice (plus 3 other individual ones). I would hope that hasn’t changed since you can’t control which ones you go to.

I think the randomness is part of what they wanted when they designed it, so choosing the fractal may be counter to that, although from where I sit since you can choose what path you take in any other dungeon then why not?

I like the idea. They’d probably have to take appropriate steps to keep it from being exploited for farming, but aside from that the only real issue I can see with it is that it might make it tougher to put together PUGs for people who want to do a set of “real” fractals.

Actually, I’m pretty sure Forsaken Halls doesn’t count either, as I remember going through that when I was finishing up Shiverpeak explorer. In my case it was Tail of the Serpent and Lair of the Coil that I needed to get my last two (Forsaken didn’t contribute at all), not that that matters.

So I really don’t know what the criteria are. My suspicion is that anything that is event-locked doesn’t count, but that doesn’t seem to explain everything.

Some areas do not seem to count towards the explorer title (I suspect in your case it would be Griffonrook and Ulukk’s Hunger, but I do not know for sure).

An example I’ve encountered is the lab you can access in the southeast corner of Metrica Province (once the gate is constructed) does not apply towards Meguuma explorer.

Best I can suggest is that you double check all of your Shiverpeak maps, compare them to the maps on wiki (just go through all of the names you can see on the map) and make sure you’re not still missing one last area to be sure this is a bug.