Guild Wars 2

I have a friend who was just outside the mandatory evacuation line as of yesterday. Haven’t heard from her today so not sure whether they stayed to tough it out and guard their home or if they evac’d to their cabin.

Even where I am on the very outskirts of the storm’s perimeter, the winds are scary strong. Hoping none of the branches from the huge tree that over hangs our mobile home decides to come down. It would definitely just go right through the roof possibly killing one of us or our pets. Mobile home roofs aren’t made to withstand large tree limbs, lol. Luckily we’re out of the flood zone.

Stay safe, nvidian.

Just posting my sincerest wish that those who find themselves, family or friends in the path of hurricane Sandy safe and sound. Don’t take any silly chances with your life. Material things can be replaced. You can’t. Thoughts, positive energy and prayers for you all.

I managed to find a little niche that wasn’t very effected. A little but not too much. And noooo, I’m not telling what it is, lol. I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of this until after the first of the year due to all the consecutive holiday events that will be happening in rapid succession. So hang on folks, the market is going to be a bumpy ride for a while!

Ceronose.6019:

I am very upset to see that one of my closest friends get 75 gold a day from a gold seller and he doesnt even pay anything. It sure does ruin my fun. But hey I just need to farm and grind all day to stick out some gold.

I’ll be completely point blank honest with you, if it were any one I knew, I’d turn their kitten in without hesitation. If this truly upsets you, turn them in to AN.

Leiloni.7951:

But thieves are an entirely different class that is built around that spike damage and stealth away thing. Ele’s are so much more versatile. We can do a lot more than damage and if a hairy situation comes our way we have more things we can do than a thief can. Sure Ele’s can use a bit of tweaking, but comparing a Thief’s skill to an Ele’s skill is apples and oranges. Totally different classes.

This. I play both classes and both have their problems and strengths. Ele’s definitely needs a tweak or two but it’s difficult to compare a ranged class with a personal combat class in every little thing.

LOL! Good luck with that one, Bunzy. Go ahead and roll a baby Mesmer. If you have an insta-80 you wouldn’t learned how to play it well anyway since that’s what happens as you level up. Besides, if you’ve logged into the game anyway, you might as well give it a go!

daphoenix.4283:

I’m leveling my newbie lvl 16 warrior at the moment, and I would have to say that I miss the survivability of my level 80 d/d elementalist. Its just not fun when I can no longer solo 10+ enemy mobs at the same time, champion mobs solo, and all the mass AoE burst I get from D/D. I do however like my single targeting DPS much more, b/c an elementalists does have some rather poor single DPS bursting.

I don’t understand why people think the elementalist is so crappy. I’m having a much harder time surviving as a warrior in PvE than my ele in PvE, maybe its b/c I’m used to aggroing everything in sight and kiting >_>

Yes, you answered your own question. Once you get used to ranged style fighting along with kiting, it can be difficult making the switch to the wade-in-and-kill-it types because you aren’t used to using your mobility keys to jump out of the way etc. I have the hardest time with that myself since I am primary a ranged combat class player -and- I have a hard time playing my keyboard like a piano, lol. It’s a learning curve I’m still trying to master. Good luck with yours.

Personally, if you actually went to one of their sites, I would run a very thorough scan on your comp. I have what I like to call anal retentive security on my comp, LOL and it will literally stop me from accessing a page or site if it detects anything on it would could be of hazard to my system. Almost without fail (I tested it on an old “throwaway” comp) my security would spit up on every gold seller site saying they detected potential threats to my system if I connected to the site. Once i went thru to one site and then ran a security scan and sure enough there were very well hidden key loggers, trojans etc placed on my test computer’s system. Not all, not even many, security software will detect all of them once they are on.

So, to the OP I very strongly suggest you do some very serious scans and cleaning of your system and then change ALL information and passwords you have for everything, including your games. If you actually set up an account on one of those sites…I would be sorely tempted to do a factory restart as you have just given them access to your computer info.

I’m thinking it’s buyer beware in cases like these but I don’t know if AN has an official stance on it or not.

When I first started flipping, I -had- to start small with small turn overs to build up a bank account I could actually work with. I’m no major player by any means but sometimes slow and steady isn’t a bad way to go about it and maybe the ONLY way someone can start out without sinking RL cash into Gems for fake cash in game…which just seems silly to me if one uses a -lot- of RL funds.

I wonder how many University economics majors are using this game as the basis for a paper? :P

I enjoy the Order stuff but I agree that I would have liked to see more racially based things in addition.

Ghostwind.4380:

To the OP:

First off, you do realize that using words like “hate” and “stupid” to describe people who complain about difficulty really undermines any point you want to make? Maybe you should try using the word please, or better yet prove your point with facts and logic if you think those who complain are wrong. I might reconsider your choice of user name as well.

Second, what class are you playing that makes the story instances “disgustingly simple”? I’ve already completed the story on my main guardian and am about halfway to a third through on 3 alts trying different paths and orders (Warrior, Necro and Mesmer), and I can say with certainty there are definitely balance issues in regards to class. On my guardian it was a challenge on some missions but mostly fine and in rare cases extremely easy – same with my warrior. But caster classes have a much more difficult time. Guardian and Warrior appear have less problems since they have strong burst aoe and good survivability, while caster classes (particularly Ele) have trouble handling the rush of mobs.

Lastly, the idea of having an optional difficulty setting for the personal story would be great except for one thing: the last mission. Not sure if you’ve actually completed the story yet (hard to tell from your post), but the last mission is in fact a group dungeon – the Arah Story Mode in fact. You can’t “adjust” a dungeon. Maybe if they allowed a setting for all the solo-able missions prior to that point. But you see the problem.

Very well said (and humorous too in places, lol).

Yes, the very last group mission would simply have to be what it is…a dungeon styled run for a group. There’s no getting around that. Up until that point however, something certainly needs to be done so that those individuals who enjoy very difficult challenges don’t lose their ability to do so while others who would rather not sweat bullets in their personal stories or be held up on account of not being able to find a partner to help them, have the option to do a more moderate difficulty version. Neither type of player should “suffer” due to the other, imo.

I wouldn’t give my information to anyone I didn’t know personally and very very well….like my husband, LOL. So NOT a good idea.

Angelus.1042:

Many MMO’s have special events that not everyone gets. Why should this game be made “easy” on its “optional” events?

I fail to understand how having the OPTION available for both a hard, moderate or easy mode so that players can choose which they prefer is making it “easy” or in some way nerfing it for anyone who doesn’t want it that way. You, assuming you enjoy extremely difficult challenges, would still be able to have that – and the level of reward such a difficulty level would give you – while others would have the option to use a more moderate difficulty mode for themselves. You don’t lose anything that way. Why is this such a bad thing since it doesn’t effect your desire for that type of challenge at all? I sincerely fail to see the problem or why such a suggestion offends you, and others, so much.

Grimwolf.7163:

He’s not suggesting that Thieves instantly gain all their initiative back every time they swap weapons, that’d be insane.
I think that having separate pools for each set would create nearly the same issue, but gaining only 3-4 initiative on swap for one extra attack would be perfectly reasonable.
When I play my thief, I rarely even swap weapons because there’s so little reason to, whereas on my ranger I’m swapping practically on cooldown every time for the extra attacks.

This is how I read the OP’s intent as well and actually agree that a little initiative after the weapon swap, enough for extra attack as you stated, would not make a thief overpowered and would match many of the other classes who -do- gain something when they swap.

Korath.7402:

I agree with you, in pve the discrepancies are very noticeable and I really think the ele deserves more damage output.

In pvp the picture is more complicated. The bunker builds can be effective, but even so they are about outlasting your opponent and whittling them down, not about killing them fast or efficiently like some of the other classes can.

This is why I’m a huge supporter of keeping the UI and things utterly separate for PvE and PvP. That way any …erm…“balancing” needed for PvP will not effect those same things in PvE and vice versa. PvE players would no longer be forced to deal with “tweaks” made to the classes simply because of PvP issues and the same can be said for PvP’rs if PvE tweaks occur. I -really- wish MMO developers would understand this concept and apply it in their game design from the get go. [Le sigh]

Excellent guide and so deserving of a sticky. Thank you so much for all your hard work.

Ljiona.9142:

I can’t remember all that stuff. Click it for the win.

I am not alone after all. [breathes heavy sigh of relief]

I’m still learning how to play my keyboard like a piano, LOL. That doesn’t come naturally to me at all as I often mix up which skill is what key and I rely heavily on visual aids in my hotbar to know which is what. Being dyslexic doesn’t help and the pictures on the hotbar are so much easier on me than the keyboard keys. (And thank GAWD for spell check because you would not believe the amount of transposition of letters I do when I type these comments, lol.) I get all nervous and then I’m hitting the wrong ke and doing something I never wanted etc.

An elementalist has to learn to use all their attunements and not allow themselves to get in the habit of relying on only one or two. This is where the cooldowns won’t feel as prohibitive. It’s a hard habit to break (using only one or two attunements) so my suggestion is, if you find that this is what you’re doing…break yourself of it ASAP or you will suffer for it at mid to higher levels especially. I’m speaking strictly in terms of PvE since I don’t PvP in this game, yet.

Having said all of that however, yes…there are times when I get a tad frustrated with some of the cooldowns because they don’t all necessarily fit in a good rotation or the damage relative to the length of the cooldown seems out of balance.

As I am still in the leveling process myself, I’ve read here on the forums that if one concentrates on defensive builds they totally screw their ability to do any -real- damage and if they do the opposite and concentrate on damage they die a lot. Thus, they should actually try to be just slightly more focused in one or the other (damage or defense) but not overly so. How true is this as far as PvE is concerned?

I named my boar pet “Teddy Boar”. :P

ddrake.5436:

I think the issue here is that the OP ‘wants’ a World of Warcraft rogue and not a Guild Wars 2 thief. I agree with mrsachelm in the fact that there are many other classes out there that the OP can try, however this should not turn into a debate of what is and what is not a thief. I don’t care by whose definition a ‘thief’ is. this is a game and the ‘thief’ is by Guild Wars 2 definition, we all know definitions change over time. adapt and learn is my advice.

True enough. In every MMO I’ve played (EverQuest, EverQuest2, WoW, RIft, etc etc etc ad nausea, lol) the “rogue” styled class has always relied heavily on stealth. It has been one of the staples, even. Yes, in -this- game the thief is different and this game is NOT the others mentioned above. This doesn’t mean, imo, that it’s not an initial shock after having gotten so used to this type of class being styled a certain way for so long. The OP isn’t “wrong” for expressing their viewpoint of what they expected, or what they think the specialties of the class generally would be based on the name given it. It’s an understandable expectation initially, at least.

I have grown fond of the “old way” of stealthy rogues type play so I play my rogue in Rift rather then in GW2 as it fulfills the style of play I enjoy in that particular general class. I will likely go back to my thief at a later date, dust her off and see if I can find a way to play her in -this- game that is both fun and successful. If not, so be it and no biggie. I would also say that there is definitely something to be said for not always doing things the way everyone else does and as far as the thief class is concerned, AN is not letting them rely so heavily on stealth which makes the class in -this- game it’s own unique thing. If I can adapt to this uniqueness and enjoy it, then I will have discovered something new I enjoy. If I find I do not adapt or adapt but do not enjoy it, that’s okay. There are many players who -do- enjoy it very much and it’s not necessary or even likely that everyone will like every class.

I have to say I too was very disappointed at how the thief was designed. Like the OP I was expecting a stealthy type. I mean a thief, by it’s very name, MUST be sly, hidden, stealthy etc. I was also surprised that my thief, who wears leather, is squishier than my cloth wearers. I was very disappointed. Besides my ranger, my thief was supposed to by my main as I -always- play this type of class in every MMO I’ve ever played over the last 15 years. (Yeah, I’m an old fart, LOL!) Sadly, my thief is shelved for the time being in favor of my ranger, my necro, and my warrior. I’m also just starting to level an elementalist.

MY only advice for the OP is to play whatever class you find fun. Give thief a real try. You may find yourself liking it after you’ve adjusted to a different play style. If you don’t, then it’s okay to be disappointed but then just put your thief on the shelf for a time and roll another class until you find one that you have a blast playing. One of the things AN has done right, imo, is making so many classes and how each race can be any of the classes. I also like the fact that every class can do a bit of everything. You aren’t stuck being -only- a healer or -only- a tank, etc. I have confidence you will find at least one, if not a few, classes you will LOVE to play. Who knows? Thief might even be one of them once you adjust to it. Good luck!

Ravenblade.7685:

mrsrachelm.7618:

Which only supports my statement that the puzzle was designed knowing that a great majority of the players would not be able to do it (aka they get the shaft)…and on a “holiday” event, no less.

Depends what you are understanding as “doing”. You can participate, even get the credit towards your achievement for having visited it and it does not count towards the main achievement.

Beating it is another thing and yes, it maybe unfair to those who expected a light-hearted experience but it was never advertised as such. I hate to pull the “optional content” card but I believe they were very sensitive here. Yes, you may have an empty 10 pts. bar taunting you and I can relate to that myself. But at the end of the day it’s nothing you couldn’t compensate elsewhere unless indeed you are a completionist or loot/skin collector.

The only thing I can agree on is that it’s good it isn’t needed for the title and it therefore technically optional from that point of view. I stand by my opinion (and it is just an opinion and I fully accept that other’s will differ) that deliberately designing an event for a holiday that you know will not be able to be achieved by a majority of your players is not good business nor good customer relations. Regular game content that can be tried again and again over time? You bet! However, a gaming community is like a family of sorts and holiday celebrations should be made as inclusive of the -whole- family as possible. To that end simply having designed the tower puzzle to have a choice of being solo or grouped, or even a difficulty option so that EVERYONE could do it at the level of challenge they desired would have gone a long long way towards designing an inclusive event appealing to hard core and casual gamers (with loot values to match). That is not what they did. They designed an event that they fully expected would ostracize more players than it included.

Tauril.8504:

Getting to choose between different levels of difficulty would indeed be welcomed especially if personnal story becomes replayable some day, which I hope it will, because some missions are really nicely done

This is the only productive comment I’ve read. I think difficulty choices for personal stories would be a great idea. Those who want really difficult challenges would get their wish while those who want the storyline to be about …the story…more than the combat could choose a moderate or mild difficulty. Then no one needs to snark at each other over it.

I have to agree with the OP. I have played every class except Mesmer (which my husband plays) and the personal story line quests are much harder than the level of the quest indicates. I can take on x number of mobs of y level in regular PvE content. BUT! As soon as I attempt to do a story line quest of Y level, all of a sudden the mobs are MUCH more difficult even though they are the same level as those I just got done handling outside the story line instance. This is poor design. The classes which have the best overall ability to do story line quests without much trouble are warriors first and guardians second. One should NOT have to level 5 or even 10 levels -higher- than the story line quest in order to have the traits and gear necessary to do the quest. Currently that’s exactly what one has to do (unless you’re a warrior or a guardian) which means you’ve already outgrown your gear item reward and it’s utterly useless. Nor should one have to complete the storyline by attrition and death after death while they take out one or two mobs at a time. The difficulty should match the level of he quests. The mobs inside a story line quest should NOT be harder than those of the same level outside the storyline quest and this is obviously not the case. The OP is definitely NOT alone in noticing this -and- in finding it utterly ridiculous.

The only thing you can do at this point is level FAR above the quest level before trying it -or- stand around begging someone to group with you and good luck.

mrsrachelm.7618:

Brunners.7251:

Yep that’s what he said. He created it with the intention that only about 5% of the playerbase would be able to finish it.

Which, imo, tells me quite a lot about how much the player base as a whole was deliberately shafted when making something for a “holiday” event.

He just said he expected that of many people trying this will have many people failing at it. [/quote]

Which only supports my statement that the puzzle was designed knowing that a great majority of the players would not be able to do it (aka they get the shaft)…and on a “holiday” event, no less.

Brunners.7251:

Yep that’s what he said. He created it with the intention that only about 5% of the playerbase would be able to finish it.

Which, imo, tells me quite a lot about how much the player base as a whole was deliberately shafted when making something for a “holiday” event.

Kalea.9167:

Tarage.8632:

Once again, people complaining about not being able to see their character wouldn’t be able to complete it anyway. Face it, you’re too slow. End of story.

This is part of the problem. You cannot LEARN if you cannot do better run after run.

When I have to make the same mistake dozens of times and somehow get it right once or twice in there, without rapid reinforcement and rapid ability to train myself to get it right over and over again, I CANNOT teach myself to do it right.

So I am essentially learning to do it WRONG.

All the people telling me to keep trying and I’ll get there, do not understand how learning works, much less PHYSICAL learning.

Great, I’m glad you all played other comparable games and know how to do these things. Or have the appropriate tools to do so quickly.

Not all of us do, but we’re willing to try to learn. Many of us. I am not whining about difficulty. I am COMPLAINING about the lack of consideration for those of us who want to learn but are not being afforded the opportunity to participate in the fun and given the chance to learn.

I’ve been a teacher. Of Math. I’ve had students who have historically failed math. I know well the difference between giving them the resources to get B+’s in classes they previously failed, and just ignoring them and giving them the chance to fail again.

This puzzle is like going into a class you’ve failed before, and not getting any help to learn. You want to learn, but no one cares, and the people who HAVE mastered the material all point and laugh and demean. The person who put the class on the curriculum say it’s optional and not to take it.

This is all missing the point. Some of us do want to learn and be included and participate and have fun doing so.

You’re all missing the point that no two people learn in the same fashion, and we’re asking to be included. Not catered to, not having it watered down. But that the designers be creative and provide opportunities for people to be successful in surpassing the difficulties that they may never have encountered before in order to gain the tools needed to succeed.

Yes, it’s just a game. But think about what a game is. It’s recreation. It’s what we do to re-create ourselves, to take a break from the stress, to have fun, to let go of all the crap we deal with in the “real world.”

It’s not something to be trivialized so much as everyone else seems to think.

Hard is one thing. Not feeling as if you are learning anything in the process is entirely different. Not feeling as if the experience is AFFORDING you the opportunity to learn enough over the dozen plus hours you have invested. Or feeling that the ratio of learning, fun, and progress compared to the amount of stress, griefing and hassle experienced is unbalanced…

These are some of the things that are being said, and said loudly.

Why the people who walk in and complete the puzzle after two tries or twenty minutes seem to think that the feedback translates to whining for those who have invested 12-20 hours… well, it boggles me, and makes me question their reading comprehension capabilities.

I just wanted to say thank you for this comment. You hit the nail squarely on the head.

I haven’t gotten my ranger to level 80 yet. I have a ways to go but I was curious as to how well I can expect to farm Orr solo as a ranger. Also looking for traits points suggestions for SB main weapon and (?) secondary weapon at 80 for PvE. Any info on what to expect, traits, gear, etc to prepare me for level 80 and Orr farming (if it’s practical) are VERY appreciated.

kipz.8701:

WAHHHHHHH, My babby reactions can’t handle it. Give me the achivement anyway. I deserve it because I bought the game.

Everyone whining about this being hard is just fueling how funny these threads are becoming. Keep crying because you tried it 5 times then gave up.

I really don’t see the value in your post. It smacks of troll to me and I wouldn’t be surprised if you aren’t reported and your comment “poofed” out of existence. If they do, I hope they poof this one as well since I quoted you.

What the heck is a “babby” anyway? LOL

In my opinion, and it is JUST an opinion and I accept that others’ opinions will vary, hard content like this type of puzzle etc is for the every day game while Holiday content should be frivolous and joyful. I mean a holiday is supposed to be party time. No one socializes during an aggravating timed bug ridden jumping puzzle. Really, save the hard work for every day gaming and let the holiday stuff be about socialization and merriment only.

Grizor.6543:

That would defeat the whole point of having it timed. It’s fine.

Which is why it shouldn’t be timed. Or…it should be instanced and soloable.

Caelib.2497:

Roctod.7290:

Rainfall.4017:

Then the simple, blunt answer is that you just won’t be able to complete it. All content does not come with a pre requisite that it must be able to be done by anyone no matter what. As others have noted in this thread, it’s very doable. Nerfing it would make it trivial. This is a learning process, but if after 5 hours you aren’t nearly completing it, or progressing, then it just isn’t for you.

This is a really really really bad attitude to take. Sorry, but, uh, yeah, everything should be able to be completed by 100% of the playerbase. If you cater to a small crowd of blowhards who insist everything must be difficult and can only be achieved through hours of grinding, a huge majority of players become disillusioned with the game.

If they don’t find the game fun, they stop playing. When they stop playing, they aren’t supporting the game through expansion purchases or gem store goods. And what should be more relaxed and fun than a simple holiday event?

Agree 100%.

I’ll add my agree 100% as well. The point of the game is not to entertain us…but to make money. It is a business venture pure and simple and how the company views their product, what their goals are in the short and long term, effects (or should effect) how they design and implement content as well as how they maintain the product after release. Unless you have relatively short term plan to rake in as much profit off the “newness” of the game with as little upkeep as possible before moving on to the next thing with profits in hand rather than a goal of investing in a long term venture, alienating even half of your player base is a very bad choice. Especially so early on. Of course, the newness factor is still in play so they can get away with this type of thing for at least a year.

ScytheNoire.4791:

From a technical game design viewpoint, it’s flawed. If it was a single instance event with only yourself, or if it didn’t have the timer, it would be fine. But given that other players can grief you and cause you to fail, and that the timer makes it impossible to avoid the crowd, it is bad game design. Two easy fixes: get rid of timer or make it single player instance. Either will fix the problem.

And the voice of reason was heard throughout the land!!! I applaud you, sir or madam.

There have been several times while doing regular jumping puzzles, or being in caves, tunnels, etc where the camera constantly readjusting has made me motion sick and triggered horrid migraines. I get zero warning, the camera will stutter back and forth or wobble around a bit and….yyyeeeeaaaah….easy tummy, take it easy now. The flash migraines from it are the worst. I have died several times due ONLY to camera glitches during puzzle jumps or while fighting mobs because all of a sudden I can’t see kitten and when you’re on a class that is supposed to stay mobile to survive…well, I’m sure you can fill in the blanks.

SolarNova.1052:

To all those B*tching about the difficulty.

If you were around when games were actually a challaenge i can only imagin that woulda made u commited suicide, becouse this is nothing compared to back in the day.
Learn to play or ST*U seriosly. Stop ruining games forcing the devs to make them easier ..we need to move out of the past decade of EZMode games at some point -.-
Even if this is just 1 JP in a overall easy game, you STILL find the need to b*itch about it ..its sad.

What I hear: “When I was your age I had to carry water in a leaky bucket uphill both ways after having to first chip a hole in the ice on the lake with a toothpick and walk in eight feet of snow barefoot. YOU don’t know how hard -I- had it young whippersnapper….blah blah blah”.

;-P

Katz.5143:

I suggest that if you can’t complete it and it is causing you extreme frustration, just pretend it doesn’t exist and tell your gaming buddies to never speak of it again in your presence. Works for me.

LOL! I love this! Works for me too actually. I’m not even going to bother with this puzzle, at least not this year. Just not worth the level of hassle to me.

irinawds.9627:

A merged thread so legitimate concerns can be buried. How lovely.

Kinda what I was thinking as well. For a short content event like a Holiday event, I seriously doubt they are going to put too much care into what players think…only on what may or may not effect their bottom line. I can only imagine what a Winterfest type event will be like. [shudder] :P

I appreciate the OP’s stance very much. I’m seeing a very unhealthy dynamic on these forums and not only concerning the holiday event. There are those who have completed the puzzle that offer up valuable tips to try to help others succeed. I respect them a great deal. The opposite type of comments…has the opposite response from me.

Some players, who find the puzzle easy or fun, or who have not experienced any problems seem unable to step out of their ego-centric bubbles to acknowledge that theirs is not the only experience. The opposite is also true for those having problems. We cannot take away the overall difficulty from the puzzle are deprive that challenge to those who enjoy it. How many people will stop to consider that it does NOT have to be an either/or situation. There are very valid ways this puzzle could have been designed that would have allowed for levels of difficulty by choice. Would it make everyone absolutely happy? No. Could it have been a LOT more inclusive for a wider player base without sacrificing one for another? Yes.

Jaap.6941:

You people need to stop complaining for things to be easier, you’re ruining it for me and other people who actually want some challenge in a game.

Yes i’ve failed many times but my friends and i had lots of fun doing it and when i finally made it i was even better.

So please ANET don’t listen to these whining people who don’t like a little challenge.

Contrary to myopic belief, it -is- possible to keep the difficulty and challenge -you- enjoy while allowing for other options for other players to also enjoy it as well while not effecting you personally in the least. It doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing situation. But acknowledging this would mean stepping out of one’s ego-centric perspective.

Trafalgar.5247:

1st, most of the people love the Clocktower Jumping Puzzle.

2nd, people complaining here are people who couldn’t finish the jumping puzzle and are frustrated….

3rd, it is not profession dependand, lol you guys, did it with my Guardian, 0 boosts, 0 speed boons/buff or whatsoever.

4th, I did it with lots of Charr and Norns, yes, it was annoying, but 100% doable, just concentrate on yourself

1) All evidence to the contrary
2) For good reason (camera bugs, glitches, being ported out, being forced to group, and more)
3) While you -may- have done it without speed buffs etc, the fact remains that those things -do- change how the jumps are made and speed buffs which effect players in the AoE will have their timing screwed up by them while those using them have a clear advantage at very specific points in the puzzle.
4) “Doable” (by a minority of players only) and “fun” are not the same things and it’s quite obvious a vast number of posts and comments about this subject are NOT one’s lauding how much “fun” and how “doable” this experience is for them. It is quite obviously just the opposite.

It would have been more helpful if players were given this information such as “in order to move on to Act 2 you must complete the following things in Act 1” or some such. If they did do this somewhere upon making the content available, I must have missed it. There didn’t seem to be any actual list of events, where to find them, where to find quest givers and what level the player should be or needs to be to attempt it, if applicable. AS I said, if there was one released as soon as the content was made available, I didn’t run across it.

Let’s make it so that it goes from really bright light to totally dark randomly too! {[jesting!]

Soja.5918:

Here we go, the h4rdk0rez defending TEDIUM in the name of CHALLENGE.

Given enough attempts and optimal conditions, nearly everyone would be able to do this jump puzzle.

NEARLY. EVERYONE.

Acting like it’s some exclusionary privilege that only the leet jumpers can attain is quite obnoxious and does not serve to address the issues with the puzzle itself.

STOP PRETENDING THAT THE ALL THE PLAYERS HAVING TROUBLE WITH THIS MERELY LACK THE MAD JUMPING SKILLZ TO DO IT.

I think certain people do that because the achievement itself means nothing unless it can be lorded over others who are having problems for whatever reason. It’s sad enough when this is done with things in real life but when people (many of whom are allegedly adults) do this with pixelated content in a video game, I really have to shake my head in amazement…and more than a little pity. It’s really a sad way to live feeling that’s one’s personal accomplishments mean nothing in and of themselves but MUST be constantly compared to those of others.

I agree with the content of your comment absolutely. Even the developer of the puzzle stated his belief that only approximately 5% of players would be able to do this puzzle successfully. Did he say that with the already existent problems in mind such as the camera bugs, the additional problems that would occur with the camera by forcing large and small races into the same small space, the lag for mid to low end systems, the fact that MMO’s are not actually designed well for platform styled game play especially with a VERY strict timer, etc? Could they have kept the challenge while addressing those issues? Yes, they could have but didn’t care to do so.

ToxicToothpick.4396:

mrsrachelm.7618:

Gryphus.6943:

The ACTUAL DEVELOPER of this puzzle, Josh Foreman, put a comment on youtube saying that he only expected 5% of the players to be able to make this. So this is your “friendly” approach to players without high-end computers, anet? To casual players?

No kidding. They deliberately and happily alienated 95% of their entire player base only 2 months after game launch, in a Holiday event which everyone always looks forward to no less! WTF? This certainly does NOT bode well concerning their attitude towards their players in the future.

Alienated? How the hell do you figure that? I finished it. My friend did not. Then afterwards we did other Halloween events and eventually ran Arah exp together. We were both just as strong as before hand, we both could access the same areas, and we both enjoyed the events. Only difference is that I had an orange bar in the Achievements log.

That’s nice, dear. [pats your head gently while nodding and smiling]

mrsrachelm.7618:

I’ve said this on another thread but I’ll say it here too. It is my opinion that they seem to have it in their minds to milk the players for a couple years for real life money while investing as little as possible themselves….just enough to keep us around a while but only until we start dwindling away after about two years. I do not seriously think they have a long term goal in mind for this game. This is a cash cow for quick and relatively easy income and profit. I am open to changing this view if given enough evidence to the contrary but things like the ever present and unfixed camera issues, the fast-food like holiday content with no real planning on their part for the issues which would be very easy to gauge simply based on a little homework in what works and doesn’t in every MMO out there for these types of Holiday events, the nerf it rather than fix it when it comes to clipping issues, etc. If this holiday event is going to be indicative of the future…yeeeaaah, I won’t be around long nor will I sink very much of my real life money into the game.

ToxicToothpick.4396:

Hyperbole.

Just an opinion. This isn’t a debate forum, sweetie. But, your high school debate team coach must be so proud of you.

Is this server based perhaps..working on some and not others?

Gryphus.6943:

The ACTUAL DEVELOPER of this puzzle, Josh Foreman, put a comment on youtube saying that he only expected 5% of the players to be able to make this. So this is your “friendly” approach to players without high-end computers, anet? To casual players?

No kidding. They deliberately and happily alienated 95% of their entire player base only 2 months after game launch, in a Holiday event which everyone always looks forward to no less! WTF? This certainly does NOT bode well concerning their attitude towards their players in the future.

I’ve said this on another thread but I’ll say it here too. It is my opinion that they seem to have it in their minds to milk the players for a couple years for real life money while investing as little as possible themselves….just enough to keep us around a while but only until we start dwindling away after about two years. I do not seriously think they have a long term goal in mind for this game. This is a cash cow for quick and relatively easy income and profit. I am open to changing this view if given enough evidence to the contrary but things like the ever present and unfixed camera issues, the fast-food like holiday content with no real planning on their part for the issues which would be very easy to gauge simply based on a little homework in what works and doesn’t in every MMO out there for these types of Holiday events, the nerf it rather than fix it when it comes to clipping issues, etc. If this holiday event is going to be indicative of the future…yeeeaaah, I won’t be around long nor will I sink very much of my real life money into the game.