Hammer's Hoard Puzzle & Treasure Room Work-Arounds

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

[r/Elnion](https://old.reddit.com/user/Elnion) has a posted a guide to preventing issues with getting the treasure of the Hammer's Hoard. The full details are listed here:

https://old.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/aft6h0/guide_im_tired_of_watching_people_fail_the/

 

The tl;dr is: **don't panic**.

The simplest work-around (if purple is in your rotation) is to get a port to the green treasure room as soon as you have the LoD buff. You can then use the special action on the 'grand' treasure and Bob's your uncle. You can still work the puzzle the usual way, without rushing.

 

Alternatively, take care of the purple room first (if necessary) and only talk to the dwarf after. (There's several workarounds to make this possible.) This guarantees you the treasure loot at the end and all/nearly all of your potential hidden treasures, too.

 

****

Some of the salient details.

 

##### Key Steps

The simplest is to just get a port to the green/treasure room after you've turned in your plate to the dwarf. The following details are if you want to do the puzzle as close to the right way as possible (if only to have access to the other hidden treasures).

 

If you do plan the "long way," talk to the dwarf only after taking care of the purple room & the Graveling's plate, so you maximize your time with the LoD buff.

 

##### Random Cycles Change Throughout the Day

The three puzzle rooms needed are randomized, as are the hidden treasures. They are the same for everyone in your map instance. This makes it possible to piggyback off other people's progress. It changes for the map periodically, perhaps at 4 hour or 12 hour intervals. You don't want to start right before a cycle change (gives you less time); if you see ghosts hanging around Frodack Steelstar, then wait until that change completes.

 

##### Take Care of Purple Room Before Starting

You can avoid all problems by taking care of purple first, since it's the only problematic step and everyone shares the cycle. To fully work-around, you need to both get into that room without starting the buff and be able to grab the plate.

 

**Getting into the room** is the easiest of those steps to work-around, as you have these options:

 

* Wait or come back later, so purple isn't in the cycle

* Have a character that does the story that takes you to the purple room & stop the quest when you enter. Then restart that step whenever you need purple again.

* Get a port from anyone already in the room (which is easy during peak hours, because there will be people, since everyone shares the same puzzles as you).

* Leaving your own mesmer in the room (see below for how to do that), porting in a friend (or stranger) you can then port your other toon in.

 

**Getting the plate is trickier.** But since you haven't spoken to the Dwarf yet, you have all the time in the world. Well, you have time anyhow. Based on everyone's input from various threads, the evidence supports the idea that... we're entirely screwed in having a 100% reliable method to get the plate to drop from the Graveling. There are things that are less promising and things that are more promising, but no sure thing. Those are as follows:

 

* Soloing the Graveling: more stories of success from more people

* Using a character who has fully completed the story: also more successes.

* Changing maps (you can taxi via LFG to anyone doing the meta or whatever else).

* Skipping the plate and getting a port into the next color room (again, everyone in the map will share the same order, so just teleport-to-friend or hope for a mesmer).

* The worst combination seems to be lots of people starting the fight together, with many who haven't started/finished story.

 

##### Parking Characters in Puzzle or Treasure Room

It is possible to park a character in these rooms, even though the game tries to kick us out. The "keep away" field is currently placed only near the floor and in the main area of each room. Thus in the rooms with mounts enabled, you can springer up to a high ledge and leave a mesmer to help for any of the steps above. If you have a spare mesmer, I recommend the green room. There's a ledge at the end of the entrance corridor (on your left just before turning into the main room).

 

##### Number of Treasures

There are a total of ~~14~~ 12 available random Hidden Treasures and 1 guaranteed one (in the green room). There are two in each of the puzzle rooms and up to ~~four~~ two in the path towards the mastery point, from up above the puzzle area. Most people will find 5-8 easily (two each in the three puzzle rooms and two in the path); the others can be tricky to discover.

 

You can increase your opportunities by getting ports into each room & by swapping maps. Swapping can lose you access to the rooms in your original route, so best to get those first. I've yet to see a map with all the possible locations or tricks.

 

Good luck.

(Please let me know if you have trouble with any particular work-around. I'll be updating this as new information comes in.)

 

 

[Gehenna.3625]

The first question that comes to my mind is this: Are the rewards from these treasure chests actually worth the trouble?

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Gehenna.3625" said:

> The first question that comes to my mind is this: Are the rewards from these treasure chests actually worth the trouble?

 

The green room chest has three guaranteed serpentine jewels, the only guaranteed source in the game for those. The other hidden treasures have the highest chance to drop the jewels of anything else and they have tended to drop rare unID gear x2 for me. If your time is limited, just going for the green room is fine: trade in the plate for the LoD effect, get a port, expose the hidden treasure (plus grab the two other treasures in the room) and done. Maybe 5 minutes of effort (not counting the metas).

 

Serpentine Jewels are used for Diviner's stats and for making Dragonsblood weapons.

[Gudy.3607]

They have a reasonable chance to drop Exquisite Serpentite Jewels - 3 guaranteed from the hidden chest in the green room, good chance from any of the other hidden chests. This alone makes it worth it for people who want the Dragonsblood weapons (or armor with Diviner's stats).

[Gehenna.3625]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"Gehenna.3625" said:

> > The first question that comes to my mind is this: Are the rewards from these treasure chests actually worth the trouble?

>

> The green room chest has three guaranteed serpentine jewels, the only guaranteed source in the game for those. The other hidden treasures have the highest chance to drop the jewels of anything else and they have tended to drop rare unID gear x2 for me. If your time is limited, just going for the green room is fine: trade in the plate for the LoD effect, get a port, expose the hidden treasure (plus grab the two other treasures in the room) and done. Maybe 5 minutes of effort (not counting the metas).

>

> Serpentine Jewels are used for Diviner's stats and for making Dragonsblood weapons.

 

Ahh so if I wanted to make those weapons I am required to go to the green room. Thanks for clarifying that.

[Zaraki.5784]

> @"Gehenna.3625" said:

> The first question that comes to my mind is this: Are the rewards from these treasure chests actually worth the trouble?

 

Nope! They're only necessary if you aim to complete new Ep's achis, otherwise better selling the plates.

[hugo.4705]

Wow learned something, wasn't aware of hidden treasures within the mastery point corridor :o just knew the ones in plates rooms.

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> * Have a character that does the story that takes you to the purple room & stop the quest when you enter. Then restart that step whenever you need purple again.

 

Thanks. I’ll have to remember to try that to increase my daily chest count (at least on days where I don’t have that room).

 

> ##### Number of Treasures

> There are a total of 14 available random Hidden Treasures and 1 guaranteed one (in the green room). There are two in each of the puzzle rooms and **up to four in the path towards the mastery point**, from up above the puzzle area. Most people will find 5-8 easily (two each in the three puzzle rooms and **two in the path**); the others can be tricky to discover.

 

Is it two or four? I’ve only personally ever saw two there for the past week but I could just be unlucky.

 

On another note, you mentioned that the rotation changes in regards to which rooms that people get. Have we determined how long each “phase” is and whether there’s a set rotation that can be predicted? I figured if there was then we could _game_ the system and avoid a rotation with the purple room.

 

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > * Have a character that does the story that takes you to the purple room & stop the quest when you enter. Then restart that step whenever you need purple again.

>

> Thanks. I’ll have to remember to try that to increase my daily chest count (at least on days where I don’t have that room).

>

> > ##### Number of Treasures

> > There are a total of 14 available random Hidden Treasures and 1 guaranteed one (in the green room). There are two in each of the puzzle rooms and **up to four in the path towards the mastery point**, from up above the puzzle area. Most people will find 5-8 easily (two each in the three puzzle rooms and **two in the path**); the others can be tricky to discover.

>

> Is it two or four? I’ve only personally ever saw two there for the past week but I could just be unlucky.

I've found two, but I get signals for more than that. Someone else in /map claimed that they had reliably found four. (I'll reach out to Tekkit to see what he thinks and go with his numbers.)

 

> On another note, you mentioned that the rotation changes in regards to which rooms that people get. Have we determined how long each “phase” is and whether there’s a set rotation that can be predicted? I figured if there was then we could _game_ the system and avoid a rotation with the purple room.

I'm going by the Reddit thread linked at the top of the thread. The poster there thinks its 4-12 hours, but cannot pin it down better than that. They are sure that they see ghosts before a cycle change. And the cycle seems to be per map, so it's possible (I think) that you could use LFG to taxi to other maps and check to see where players are heading, and skip any instance that has folks heading to purple.

 

As an aside: I spent a fair bit of time researching people's experiences, writing up this post and I'd be happy if it all went to waste later today because ANet patched the game so that the plate drops from the Sarcophagus instead of from the graveling (or best: via a bouncy at the end of the event).

 

[Aaralyna.3104]

"The three puzzle rooms needed are randomized, as are the hidden treasures. They are the same for everyone in your map instance. "

 

Are you sure this is the case? The other day I swear I saw some people enter into other rooms (other colour plates) at same time in same map.

 

I never knew bout the other hidden treasures either.. cheers for that info (inserts thumbs up emote)

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Aaralyna.3104" said:

> "The three puzzle rooms needed are randomized, as are the hidden treasures. They are the same for everyone in your map instance. "

>

> Are you sure this is the case? The other day I swear I saw some people enter into other rooms (other colour plates) at same time in same map.

Well, no, not 100% sure. I don't think any of us can be certain, because we each only get a 30 minute window to test. The reddit poster who made the post was absolute, so I'm trusting (without verifying entirely). So far, since I've heard the theory, I haven't found any counter examples. I've spent ~1 hour the last two nights helping a friend (so they go first, I go after) and in each situation, the hiddens and the plate order has been the same for both of us...and for everyone else present.

Then again, small sample size still.

 

There are other ways that people could have gotten inside the rooms: phase change, map swap, and ports.

 

>

> I never knew bout the other hidden treasures either.. cheers for that info (inserts thumbs up emote)

You're welcome; that was new for me too.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have enough mesmers to occupy all the rooms to ensure access to all quickly enough to claim the extras.

 

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"Aaralyna.3104" forgot to mention: among the ironies, if you get ported into _any_ of the puzzle rooms, you can complete the room regardless of whether you initiated the LoD effect, and you can pick up the plate at the end of every room...except for purple, which bugs out even if you have started the puzzle officially.

[Aaralyna.3104]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> @"Aaralyna.3104" forgot to mention: among the ironies, if you get ported into _any_ of the puzzle rooms, you can complete the room regardless of whether you initiated the LoD effect, and you can pick up the plate at the end of every room...except for purple, which bugs out even if you have started the puzzle officially.

 

Ye I still think that vet drops 1 plate at a time and goes to a random person inside the room. So far I have seen this happen every time, including ppl just entering (or afking in room while they already have a plate), not touching the vet and they get a plate instantly while others kill it forever and see others run away with "their" plate. I don't have mesmers next to my main so every time I'm there and got my chests I just portal ppl into rooms I have (and yell I do in map chat).

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > There are a total of 14 available random Hidden Treasures and 1 guaranteed one (in the green room). There are two in each of the puzzle rooms and **up to four in the path towards the mastery point**, from up above the puzzle area. Most people will find 5-8 easily (two each in the three puzzle rooms and **two in the path**); the others can be tricky to discover.

>

> Is it two or four? I’ve only personally ever saw two there for the past week but I could just be unlucky.

 

After a week of farming, I have never found more than 2 outside of the main rooms. I haven't heard back from anyone identifying where there might be more, so I'm going to update the original post accordingly.

[Khisanth.2948]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > There are a total of 14 available random Hidden Treasures and 1 guaranteed one (in the green room). There are two in each of the puzzle rooms and **up to four in the path towards the mastery point**, from up above the puzzle area. Most people will find 5-8 easily (two each in the three puzzle rooms and **two in the path**); the others can be tricky to discover.

> >

> > Is it two or four? I’ve only personally ever saw two there for the past week but I could just be unlucky.

>

> After a week of farming, I have never found more than 2 outside of the main rooms. I haven't heard back from anyone identifying where there might be more, so I'm going to update the original post accordingly.

 

I have only ever gotten 2 as well. Maybe the others are confused by the fact that if you change instance after getting your 2 the skill can point to a chest again but when you try to open you will be told that you already opened it that day.