Mad King Clocktower waiting period

[TexZero.7910]

> @OriOri.8724 said:

> > @SummerRayne.4672 said:

> > And this is sadly the mindset of many mmo players today. Extremely little patience, if any at all. Wanting everything done immediately and if they have to wait for maybe 10-20 seconds to do something on occasion it is just disastrous. And a cutscene that lasts what, 3-4 seconds maybe? Seriously all, this type of thing causes you this much distress?

>

> Considering every other JP in this game, literally every other one, you can immediately start over if you fail it, this is the odd one out. A forced waiting period between being able to practice that 1 jump you're struggling on does nothing but make it harder to master that jump and move on.

>

 

It might help you to think of the waiting period as the walk of shame. If you do then this really is no different than any other failure at any other puzzle.

[reukies.6418]

If you are the last person to fall off there is only a second or 2 of waiting time.

[nosleepdemon.1368]

It's there to make you think about what you've done.

[Zaltys.7649]

> @reukies.6418 said:

> If you are the last person to fall off there is only a second or 2 of waiting time.

The first half is by far the hardest part. So anyone who's still learning the puzzle is likely to fail early.

[hellsqueen.3045]

Let's just remove that liquid cloud thing that rises because with people who out of their control because they live in other countries getting 250-350 ping constantly, it is nearly impossible to do, then they can just open the gate and people can climb the thing at their own pace instead of getting anxiety about the arms reaching and missing jumps.

[STIHL.2489]

I have mad respect for people that enjoy jump puzzles, but, linking this one to a whole series of rewards is such a pain, I am at the point where I would pay just to be done with this.

[Faaris.8013]

> @Ubi.4136 said:

> The wait time is tied to people completing the current run. If you fall in the first 5 seconds, you have to wait almost 2 minutes if someone makes it to the chest. It really isn't that long of a wait. The person that makes it has to sit out the entire next run because you will have started while they are at the chest. It really isn't an issue.

 

Funny how you describe exactly what the issue is and then finish with "It really isn't an issue." Failing after 5 seconds and then having to wait for 2 minutes, just to then fail after maybe 7 seconds and having to wait for 2 minutes again is a huge issue. I wasn't aware of that because it's my first Halloween here and I haven't tested the JP yet, but that sounds like horrible design. Do they want people to play that content or not? If they want players to do the content, then they should remove any barriers possible. I can just imagine how "adventures" like A Fungus Among Us would work out if you had to wait for 2 minutes after failing, especially when you have to do an adventure for a collection. I'm sure there are different approaches to JPs and adventures, depending on the player's character. What I do is trying to optimize from the first run on, and fast. I'm not slowly approaching every hurdle or challenge, taking my time to ponder about the best way to approach it. If I fail, I try again, going for gold, always. That means I fail maybe 40 times in an adventure, but when I make it for the first time, it's gold or at least silver, never bronze. And that approach should not be slowed down artificially, these are arcade mini games, not strategy games. I do them like this for more than 25 years now and it works. You couldn't slowly approach challenges in Sonic the Hedgehog ^^

[Svarty.8019]

> @OriOri.8724 said:

> waiting period after you fail the clocktower and have to wait before you can try it again. Is there any way to shorten this?

 

If it were easy, they'd have done it. I agree that it's the most irritating part. It seems that the player is waiting for the puzzle to end and restart.

 

You would think that the logical thing to do in this case would be to have multiple towers with offset starts and when they fail, to move the player to the one which is next to begin.

 

 

[Dreamy Lu.3865]

I do not like this waiting time. I am someone not very good to manage under time pressure. In cases like this timed JP, I need to work it out again and again until I find the proper way to do it and reach the end. For someone like me, who needs so many repeats, this waiting time is really annoying.

 

Now on the other hand, there is something I find soooooo great in this JP: Other players - although on the same path - are not disturbing in any way thanks to their appearance as "mini twister". I would dream that it is the same for the Winterdays JP. :)

[MMAI.5892]

I liked the waiting period as it allowed me to breath deep and let my rage simmer down before the next run.

[thesilverdragoon.3078]

> @"Bridget Morrigan.1752" said:

 

> Change the timer to 30 minutes for a match, like in Wintersday. Have players who fail go to the starting platform and have a button to enter when ready, and pulse starts and the rising instant-death murk in layers so that players can leave every fifteen seconds or so.

 

I strongly agree with it rising in layers. It would be just like the snowflakes disappearing in the Wintersday puzzle and I was fine with how that went.

 

[Shard.4791]

I got in a solo instance and it was wonderful. The first wait period I encountered was 19 seconds, pretty fast even though it sounds like a lot. And if I had failed some runs it would probably have been instant restart, does somebody know? The max amount of points one can get in a solo instance is 7 up from 5 so up to 40% less waiting. It seems like solo instances of MKCT are rarer than Winter Wonderland ones. I've got the bug only once in 150 completions. As for last years I don't remember if I got the bug or not.

 

There's been some good suggestions as to how to fix the problems of the instance in this thread. I hope the developers see it and possibly comment or do something about it. Anyway this next video demonstrates (from 2:15 onwards) how the wait time feels in a solo instance in a realistic setting to give some perspective but again I don't know what the wait time is on failed attempts since I only had 16 successful ones and 0 failed in bugged instances.

 

[OriOri.8724]

> @Svarty.8019 said:

> > @OriOri.8724 said:

> > waiting period after you fail the clocktower and have to wait before you can try it again. Is there any way to shorten this?

>

> If it were easy, they'd have done it. I agree that it's the most irritating part. It seems that the player is waiting for the puzzle to end and restart.

>

> You would think that the logical thing to do in this case would be to have multiple towers with offset starts and when they fail, to move the player to the one which is next to begin.

>

>

 

Maybe, it could also be that they just don't think that it bothers people, and haven't considered addressing it.

[Ardent Heretic.8216]

I actually like the wait time between runs. It builds tension and pushes me toward panic when it's go time, which in turn raises the stakes. The waiting period if there isn't enough time left on the clock at the end of the 15 minutes is abysmal, however.

[Solvar.7953]

The entire wait for the timer at, then reset at the end of the 15 minute overall timer is also annoying. If there is less than 2 minutes left on the timer and you are in the entrance, you might as well just leave and hope you can get popped into another instance that still has time on it. I suspect that is harder to fix, as the wintersday JP has the same issue. But they could just increase that time limit to be something longer, so you don't run into it as often.

[Tachenon.5270]

I tried it again this year, and gave up again this year. Tom said it best: the waiting is the hardest part.

[Pandora.5084]

The only thing that I agree is that the 15 minute time is too short for the amount of tries that people have to go through doing the JP. Everything else, I have no problem.

And for the people talking about the JP being a solo instance, let me put some things into another perspective:

 

There was a person on one of the instances I was in and I kept seeing that he/she was getting sometimes to the top but still was with 0 points. When I got the chance I asked if he/she had the [random bug at the clock](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/10806/clocktower-end-jump-bugged "https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/10806/clocktower-end-jump-bugged"), eventually I managed to stand in the spot with him/her at the same time and I noticed that he/she was jumping too early (exactly at the time that the lightning bolt hit the clock). So I said, the next time we're at the top together again, jump when I do. That time came and he/she finally completed the JP fully after jumping with me. This poor person actually had done the JP at least 5 times and the only thing standing between him/her and the completion was that end jump to the clock.

 

In my opinion, the other people being there is a way for you to have someone to share your experience (good and bad) and also keep your hopes up ~~even when there is trolls and ragers out there~~, and that's what an online multiplayer game is all about. **And Guild Wars 1 and 2 have the best gaming community out there.... _Enjoy it and celebrate it!_**

[Nidome.1365]

Unless you are an expert you spend far longer waiting than jumping. That is not an activity - it's a waiting room.

[Despond.2174]

This waiting period is the main reason why I tend to not do it. I wouldn't mind failing if I could attempt it like normal again, but sometimes waiting 2min to just try again for 20 seconds because too much.

[Zoltar MacRoth.7146]

The waiting makes this a hard puzzle to get into for the first time. When I was first learning it, I would wait...wait...wait... run in there, get tripped up on the second or third platform on some piece of geometry that wasn't obviously unscaleable, immediately die as the rising green goo reached me then end up in the lobby, waiting.. only to repeat the whole thing again. It was difficult to learn from this puzzle. After a while I gave up and on hearing it's still happening, I'm not inspired to try again.

[Saraneth.6021]

This is why I have never and probably will never make it to the top. The long wait times just ruins all the fun of practicing.

 

This from someone who spent weeks in the Super Adventure box learning everything when it first came out. No wait time when you failed at something stopped it from feeling like a waste of time which is what is happening in the clock tower. If you are not good at it you spend most of your time waiting with nothing to do. Waste of time.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @MMAI.5892 said:

> I liked the waiting period as it allowed me to breath deep and let my rage simmer down before the next run.

 

A sensible attitude.

Doesn't help me, though, since I fail within 7-10 seconds and I'm not willing to wait (calm or otherwise) for a variable amount of time. I'm not on strike, I'm not refusing to do the puzzle ever, I'm not boycotting. But... every time I consider making another attempt or doing one of the other gazillion things at which I can actually see myself progress (or play mindlessly), I never end up choosing this.

 

Essentially, it's niche content: it appeals to a particular fraction of the community (and it's super appealing to a vocal minority). But it won't be done by another group of people. Combine that with the fact that it gates some achievements and skins... the result is some super cranky players. That can't be healthy for the game.

 

I can't say that it's worth ANet resources to change the waiting period. But it might be worth their time to reconsider whether they should add any other festival items that involve a massive scavenger hunt **and** that are gated by the festival JPs.

[DeadlySynz.3471]

So here are the numbers which spell out the issue perfectly. Decided to whip out the phone/stopwatch and time this. Though I'm getting far better at this, I'm going to use the part in the JP I see people typically crashing and burning in which is the first 5-10 seconds after that "1st checkpoint".

 

- The amount of time spent jumping up to the point typically people crash & burn is 20-25 seconds

- The amount of time one would wait if one failed at that point AND someone completes the puzzle is about 80 seconds (before you start jumping again)

 

So you have a case of someone jumping say on average 25 seconds, then waiting 80 seconds if someone completes the puzzle...

 

Some people simply just aren't as fast and will have greater difficulty in completion.. it is what is is. How exactly is this good design when that person has to now wait up to 80 seconds if someone completes the puzzle? Imagine if this happens repeatedly. From my experience, people on average are spending 80% of the time standing around in the JP waiting to participate in it. How exactly is this justifiable?

[Zoltar MacRoth.7146]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @MMAI.5892 said:

> > I liked the waiting period as it allowed me to breath deep and let my rage simmer down before the next run.

> I'm not refusing to do the puzzle ever, I'm not boycotting. But... every time I consider making another attempt or doing one of the other gazillion things at which I can actually see myself progress (or play mindlessly), I never end up choosing this.

 

Well said.

[Dreddo.9865]

Totally agree the waiting time has no point at all. And to the person that considers waiting a normal thing let me tell you we can't devote all our time to the game, so for many of us 'wasted time' is an issue.