Mad King's Clock Tower - Amazing work by the Dev Team

I recently came back to GW2 from a long hiatus and played the Mad King's Clock Tower again.

Maclaine and Josh - I understand you two did a large part of the development of the tower and music. It's absolutely amazing. If I lived in the area, I'd buy you both a beer.

I've played quite a few MMO's in my 42 years on this planet, and I believe the Clock Tower to be, hands down, the best holiday themed event ever done in any MMO, ever.

The music is amazing. I'd love to see an extended version of that clock tower song. It'd be great for tabletop gaming.

Mad King's Tower and the Wintersday jumping puzzle are exceptional. Always have fun doing them, even when they give junk rewards.

Would love to see more tough puzzles in other festivals, and more achievements tied to jumping puzzles in general. I know not everyone likes them but why do they have to? Not everyone raids, or does pvp either. Plenty of room in this game for variety.

I'd prefer it to be easier. Tried it for one hour with other players. Had fun with the emotes and cries of pain. Misery loves company. It really creates a sense of community. I like to roleplay and my character is a lunatic so he doesn't mind falling over and over again. But I'd like to succeed one day. If I do, I'll sure celebrate, lol.

It's a practice makes perfect kind of jumping puzzle.It's obvious where to go, while pressured by time to get there as efficiently as possible.

Every year i notice i need a few rounds to get back in the habit.

Normally I prefer puzzles which aren't timed, because then a lot of the challenge comes from figuring where to go rather than lots of tricky jumps or doing it quickly enough, but I actually really enjoy this one. Maybe because 1/2 the challenge is figuring out where to go - there's lots of bits where at first you can't tell which bits of rubble are the path and which aren't, a few places where it feels like you're going backwards and one part where you need to drop down - which seems crazy at first.

The first year I couldn't attempt it because of a weird bug - at the end of the waiting period when you were supposed to start the puzzle I'd instead briefly see my character standing on the roof of the lobby, then I'd drop into the water below the puzzle and spend the time swimming around the base of the tower (fun fact: there's actually 2 - the one you see from the lobby where the puzzle rotates and one behind the lobby where the puzzle is stationary and the tower rotates - that's the one you actually climb). When time ran out I might be moved back to the lobby or I might be stuck there.

Thankfully that was fixed by the second year and I was able to attempt it. It took me until the end of Halloween to actually do it, even though I like jumping puzzles I'm not actually very good at them. But I got there eventually and the feeling when I did was amazing. Now I can usually do it without too many problems - my first win this year took me 6 attempts but I'm not counting the first two because I was trying to eat a mince pie while doing it and finally had to admit that wasn't working. Sometimes I get there 'first' try, sometimes I fall a few time and then do it, but I enjoy trying.

@Jarl Petter Hinrik.1409 said:I'd prefer it to be easier. Tried it for one hour with other players. Had fun with the emotes and cries of pain. Misery loves company. It really creates a sense of community. I like to roleplay and my character is a lunatic so he doesn't mind falling over and over again. But I'd like to succeed one day. If I do, I'll sure celebrate, lol.

honestly , i've been doing it every years for years now that it' s super rare when i fail it ! But I totally remember the first year i've tried it ... It was a pain in the iatus. I feel you really. But you'll see , soon it will be such an easy achievement to do.

Never been able to do the tower.. the only puzzle i've failed at in game.. but that is ok, practice will get it - except that is my major issue with is content - All the waiting around to start is so mind numbingly tedious when all you want to do is keep trying. Wintersday on HM was challenging at first but with repeated practice you get it done and do it again etc, Aetherblade is hard and fun, but Clock Tower just kills my interest after only few tries each day because it is just so ridiculously full of delay before you even get to be challenged.

Has anyone else noticed a change/bug this year, where our characters don't stop running when we want them to? They seem to take one or two steps (sometimes ten) more for some reason. It's very odd. Only happens in the clocktower and it's making it exceptionally hard this year to complete.

@Nath Forge Tempete.1645 said:

@Jarl Petter Hinrik.1409 said:I'd prefer it to be easier. Tried it for one hour with other players. Had fun with the emotes and cries of pain. Misery loves company. It really creates a sense of community. I like to roleplay and my character is a lunatic so he doesn't mind falling over and over again. But I'd like to succeed one day. If I do, I'll sure celebrate, lol.

Getting there. Moved up two inches today. ;P I practice my emotes while waiting and watch jumping videos. Players bowed and kneeled in front of the tower today. Lol.

Agreed the clock tower is a lot of fun. The only thing I don't like about it is waiting between attempts. If everyone in your instance fails, you get to try again more quickly. If people make it to the top, you have to wait the full cycle. When I'm waiting I can't help but think "I hope they fail so we can just get going". That piece of the experience is a bit lame. But aside from that, the JP itself is great.

I hate this thing, the timed death, long cut scene, and waiting to retry make it more frustrating than it needs to be. The wintersday puzzle is way better because it has none of these flaws.

Its prob my favourite activity in the festival, id be sad if they changed or nerfed it.

@"Ayakaru.6583" said:It's a practice makes perfect kind of jumping puzzle.

And thats exactly the point: practicing it is incredibly annoying as you spend most of the time waiting for it to restart if you mess up.

I've done every JP in the game multiple times and really love them and think that they are one of GW2's best features, but i never finished the clocktower and pretty much stopped trying years ago as I honestly don't have the slightest motivation to spend 90% of my time waiting for the JP to reset (And in the beginning doing the JP was even worse because you saw the other players as actual player-models - it s"sooooo much fun" to try doing a jumping puzzle when 4 norn/charr are blocking your screen)..

If the JP was a solo instance with instant reset, i would probably try it - but for me, in its current state its a perfect example of poor gameplay-design.

since i consider a puzzle something i can do in my pace i never considered the clock tower a JP, it's a race against the clock.

I love it. It's fast, short enough, the music is amazing, I'm still not bored. I don't always manage it but often enough.

(If people aren't following me anymore or I'm not following anyone anymore and the puzzle hasn't gotten far, I jump down, although I won't do that too many times in a row. I'm not falling by accident, honest! Well, most of the time!)

I collected candy for 20 slot bags but didn't farm it as much once I didn't want to open the bags one year. I don't remember why, must be some loot item or something. But I'd still run if I could find the time/space. It's so fun.

The clock tower is my favorite JP. The only downside to it is the ridiculous and unnecessary amount of waiting that comes with it. Why is this not a solo instance? It is not like the other players can interract with you anyway and nobody I know care about the ranking. Juts make this a solo instance and get rid of all the waiting that goes along with it.

@"Orion Templar.4589" said:Agreed the clock tower is a lot of fun. The only thing I don't like about it is waiting between attempts. If everyone in your instance fails, you get to try again more quickly. If people make it to the top, you have to wait the full cycle. When I'm waiting I can't help but think "I hope they fail so we can just get going". That piece of the experience is a bit lame. But aside from that, the JP itself is great.

I did it I think twice before. When I realized I had to wait, I was like this is lame and never done it again.

The tower is awesome :) I am "new" to guild wars and did this the first year (bought the game some years ago but never really played it).I practiced the tower on stream. Me and my small viewership we had some fun seeing me failing over and over again. Haha.I tried again next day and I finally made it multiple times.After coming back to GW2 (from BDO) gaming is finally more relates to having fun. This game has alot to offer. Ty guys, very good job :)

The most difficult part of this JP is to find an instance where ppl are as bad(or worse) at jumping than you are, so you won't have to wait every single time for the "I love this jumping puzzle even when it doesn't give proper rewards since I finish it almost every single try"-guy.They need to invent a system to sort ppl by their jumping skill. You cannot get to the first chest? Group A. You get past the first chest? Group B. You get to the second chest? Group C. You rarely finish it? Group D. You finish it sometimes? Group E. You get annoyed waiting and you're willing to pay 10 candy corn cobs to get rid of other ppl? 15-min-Private instance.

Still one of the best content ever invented.

I seen a video of a 5 year old doing it xD she is so adorable :)

@"Talindra.4958" said:I seen a video of a 5 year old doing it xD she is so adorable :)

Aaint that the same kid who did wintersday jump puzzle last xmas?

I should train my kid to do it for me, lol.