Risen High Wizard (Arah) and Legendary Collections

Okay folks, I need help. I'm trying to complete HOPE and I'm stuck on the Legendary Risen High Wizard. My problem? I can't find a fresh map instance of Cursed Shore where Arah Assault hasn't happened yet.

Every instance I join has Arah already captured. Every time the defense event comes up, players nearby successfully complete the defense, despite my begging them not to. WHY is this collection (and others, I assume) gated behind an event failure? I thought we'd all learned our lessons on this soon after the first legendary collections had been implemented--that gating content behind event failures is a bad idea.

I've given up on trying to convince other players to let the event fail. They either won't listen, or perhaps their map/say chats are turned off, or perhaps they simply don't care and just want the event karma. Their reasoning doesn't matter. There is absolutely no logical reason that I can think of for why a legendary collection (or any collection, for that matter) should be gated behind an event's failure. Equally, it isn't fair to force players who want to successfully complete the event to give up their event credit for the sake of others. I understand that.

I also understand that there needs to be a way to reset the event chain on metas like this, and I understand that for this chain specifically it just doesn't reset unless it's a fresh map instance or the defend event fails. But the problem is that with the implementation of megaservers and with all of the new maps and expansions, there is typically only one (1) instance of Cursed Shore active at any one time. There don't ever seem to be enough players in CS to force us into a new instance, and understandably so because CS isn't really a zerg-rich map anymore. Thus, the only option left if you want to complete this collection is to wait for the defense event to fail, but unfortunately since Arah is also a dungeon, people congregate at the waypoint nearby, so the defend event activates and they're close enough to see it, so they'll just walk over and kill the risen while they wait for a dungeon group to form.

Any help is appreciated. Seriously, if you see this post and you're in a map instance of Cursed Shore where Arah has not been captured yet and the assault meta is about to happen, please add me and whisper me. I will give you 20g if you do this, and I'm not even remotely kidding. It'll be the easiest 20g you've ever earned.

I just want to finish HOPE.

WTF, is this really a thing? Are there really people who thought this would be a good idea? And this has been validated by design leads? LOL.

You actually get the item for either the retake event or the defend event.

I read that on the wiki (or somewhere... forums, perhaps?) but thus far the defend events I've been part of haven't spawned the High Wizard.

Now 1,5 years later from OP, it's still the same problem. I would love to hear some thoughts from a game developer what purpose it has to include begging people to let an event fail so that you can progress your own collection. There's 2 of these events in this collection, met a nice guy yesterday that heard me and let the Corrupted Quaggan event fail so that the champion would spawn, the same cannot be said of Gates of Arah.

The first collections of HOPE was actually kind of fun. I had to participate in game modes I don't like (Fractals) but it's fine, and the collection events felt meaningful. Any sort of good story telling in this last collection for the gift is so overshadowed by the nature of how it is designed. I don't mind waiting for a timer or time gated items/events. But I want predictability, and I especially don't want to beg other players to stop playing their game so that I can progress. Any zero sum game should absolutely not be a part of a collection. For me personally it has made me question if GW2 is really the type of game I want to spend any more time on, which is why I am making this post.

Can someone from ANet please give their perspective of why such a zero sum game is a part of the collection? Why do I have to beg other players to stop playing their game so that I can kill the Risen High Wizard? How is that supposed to be entertaining for anyone involved?

You can get the collection item from the defense at the gates of Arah event as well. The only part that has this problem is the Quaggan event.

@"Prince Rawrrik.6935" said:I would love to hear some thoughts from a game developer what purpose it has to include begging people to let an event fail so that you can progress your own collection.Since begging/event failure is not necessarry, I doubt you'll get any response here. You have some rng in this, as the version of the defense event that spawns the wizard isn't guaranteed every time the defense runs, but that's not much different than other events necessary for different collections.

Park a character at the gates of Arah if you have one "to spare" and check occasionally for the defense event, and you should soon get one that spawns the wizard. I think I took part in three or four events that way until I got mine done (a while ago).

I had an issue with this a while back when I made Astralaria. I had to leave a toon on the map and keep checking back a couple times a day over a week or two until I found a map that would work. It was almost as bad as doing the Not So Secret jumping puzzle.

I'd do Not So Secret JP over and over instead of this tbh, and I'm not a fan of that JP at all.

I have parked a character there, and I know it can spawn from the defense event. For instance I wouldn't have had a problem with a low percentage chance drop from a mob. It's predictable, even if it will take time. I can farm said mob when I feel like it. Compare it to the collection for Aurora and the item you get for using your glider skills in Bloodstone Fen. I've had absolutely no problem with it, even if I've tried to get that item for well over a month now and I still don't have it. This feels more like a prison. There's only a 10 minute window on the event, it's not an event that happens on a timer (atleast not to my knowledge, would love it if someone knew a timer for it) like the Quaggan event where you can just check back after 20 minutes or do Jormag if it's suffieciently upscaled.

For this one I have to "babysit" the event or risk missing it, and there's added rng on top of it, and a large part of my frustration comes from that it's removing my joy from the rest of the design/story to getting this legendary weapon. It was a nice different experience compared to just throwing xyz items into the forge like with the 1st gen. legendaries.

It might just be me that don't like to play this waiting game spiced with a healthy serving of randomness, but it probably isn't, which is why it would help to get some clarification as to why this is designed this way. I struggle to see any positive sides to it.

@Prince Rawrrik.6935 said:It might just be me that don't like to play this waiting game spiced with a healthy serving of randomness, but it probably isn'tI was just about to suggest that it might just be a question of personal preference. I know I didn't mind this one or the Vimetooth prime for Nevermore (which actually took me a couple of months, as I was rarely online at the right time) half as much as some of the things required for Aurora, most notably the Bloodstone Fen part that took me ages and that I really did NOT enjoy. Good thing those legendary collections require a variety of things, so there's a mix of stuff for everyone to enjoy in there.

@Rasimir.6239 said:

@Prince Rawrrik.6935 said:It might just be me that don't like to play this waiting game spiced with a healthy serving of randomness, but it probably isn'tI was just about to suggest that it might just be a question of personal preference. I know I didn't mind this one or the Vimetooth prime for Nevermore (which actually took me a couple of months, as I was rarely online at the right time) half as much as some of the things required for Aurora, most notably the Bloodstone Fen part that took me ages and that I really did NOT enjoy. Good thing those legendary collections require a variety of things, so there's a mix of stuff for everyone to enjoy in there.

Thank you for your point of view, does make it a bit easier to put up with it when I know it's not just downsides to it and this kind of thing is enjoyable to other players.

@drunkenpilot.9837 said:I read that on the wiki (or somewhere... forums, perhaps?) but thus far the defend events I've been part of haven't spawned the High Wizard.

It spawns as soon as the event apprears, and dies extremly fast afterwards.

Cursed Shore has always been more lucrative to fail events rather than try to complete cos ANET think that's a good thing. It's been talked over time and again and that's all that happens talk falling on deaf ears so it's unlikely to change anytime soon.. just another ludicrous way to time gate stuff to oblivion.

@drunkenpilot.9837 said:I read that on the wiki (or somewhere... forums, perhaps?) but thus far the defend events I've been part of haven't spawned the High Wizard.

There are two defend events. They look the same, but one of them spawns the wizard, while other doesn't. If i remember right they happen in sequence (so if an event didn't have the wizard, the next one will).Notice, that the high wizard can spawn away from the waypoint (and even from the event area) and if there are any players present, may die before he even gets there, so you have to pay attention to him (because completing the event does nothing if you didn't manage to tag him during it).

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@"drunkenpilot.9837" said:I read that on the wiki (or somewhere... forums, perhaps?) but thus far the defend events I've been part of haven't spawned the High Wizard.

Years later, i'm sharing this same pain.

lmao. Is there even a timer for this event? I can't find it anywhere.

@Sorem.9157 said:Years later, i'm sharing this same pain.

lmao. Is there even a timer for this event? I can't find it anywhere.

There is not

@"Sorem.9157"my recommendation for events like this:park a character in the safe spot, outside the dungeon entranceand, any time you have a free five minutes, jump on that toon and see if the event is up

You can also check LFG (if you're NA, on some weekends, there's a "cleansing of Orr" guild-sponsored event you can join; times vary). 30-90 minutes after reset is often promising.But me? I just pop up "every so often" and eventually, the event is up or the pre-event is running.I find it less stressful to be patient rather than be stuck waiting (whether for a clock time or the map to get it together).

If you're really ambitious, you can look at the wiki for all the relevant pre-events and organize the map to start progressing them. There are always people who want temple events and, for a variety of reasons, few will ever initiate them. However, that's a lot of work. It can be fun, on its own; it's just not everyone's cup of tea.

I mean, I will get this done but...
This is some exceptionally dumb & obnoxious event/achievement design.

Just as an update to this, given this thread was made in 2017 before some updates were made to many of these collections, it is NOT necessary any longer to fail events for any of the T2 weapon collections.

Most collection items can be acquired from successful events usually related to the original event/item.

As is in this case:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Risen_High_Wizard_Soul_Energy

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Risen_High_Wizard

Can be acquired both via securing the Promenade of the Gods event as well as from Ensuring the Pact holds on to the Gates event.

This does not remove the necessity to be present for a specific event, but it does remove the necessity to have events fail, which was a main issue preventing players progressing the collections.