WillowFae.9528

Got a further update after attempting to make an appeal, this time from a "Senior GM Sai". This is what was said: So there you have it: ample proof that the 3-Gold NPC is not mandatory towards the Chapter completion or the achievement; you can skip the NPC and keep your gold. If you decide to pay this NPC, know that it will not aid the Turtle Bug in any way, doing the witnesses "in order" is not a guaranteed fix to the Turtle bug, and if you pay the 3-Gold NPC then you will not be refunded or compensated. There may be a fix to the Turtle Haystack, there may not. It is highly advised that for anyone looking here for a solution, simply skip both the Stablemaster NPC and the 3-Gold NPC for now. If you're going to approach one for a fix, try the Stablemaster until the bug doesn't exist or try it on another character and repeat. Do not, under any circumstances, interact with the 3-Gold NPC. There is no point and it's an intentional loss of your gold by the design of the developers. Good game.

Following up; got a response back on my ticket from a "GM Nayz", not the "GM Zody" that gave the initial response, and this is what was said: As before, this is the same response they've given and stated that the "3 gold" is a mandatory donation despite the 3-Gold NPC being proven to be optional. Ergo: Many others, like myself, will not be getting any gold back for wasting it during a bugged achievement encounter. The same goes for any players who stumble upon this, so to avoid any headaches caused by the ANET Staff, do not interact with an NPC that demands 3 gold coins in exchange for witness reports. You do not need it to progress or clear the achievement, regardless of what the ANET staff are saying, and you will not be refunded if you fall into this trap. You can talk to any of the other witnesses on repeat, through different Chapter attempts, to get the achievement. There is "no order" to complete them in, there are no "mandatory witnesses" designed, this is a recount from unlucky but achievable experience.

I did what you suggested and went in reverse; the turtles are still bugged, but I got my achievement while skipping the 3-gold NPC. I think what they mean by "optional", since there's no clear indicator for MANDATORY witnesses other than their testimonies (by all accounts means none of these witness reports matter, you just need to chat up as many as possible), are the ones with the green stars after you hear Chul-Moo scream from down under. Only once you've questioned enough witnesses to that point, any left over are potentially considered "optional" and you can repeat the chapter until you recount repeated-witnesses. That's the only gesture or hint they've given us thus far, and certainly doesn't follow the instructions set by the GMs officially in their ticket responses. I encourage anyone without the achievement to try skipping both the turtles and the 3-gold NPC; I know for certain I aided the Wounded Witness in previous plays, and have no explanation as to why after this fourth attempt and repeat-witness that that was the one that gave me the achievement. Repeat the chapter for achievements after you've gotten as far as the patch will take us and give us your accounts below.

The GM that I quoted is the one who suggested and stated that you have to talk to the witnesses 'in order', otherwise the haystack will not work. My initial statement on this post has the quote, if you need to review, and because the haystack works for some and not for others doesn't give the impression that people are pouring gold into the NPC just for fun; they're doing everything they're called to do in order to get the achievement, and even the GM is flying that flag by statement alone when there is evidence to support that following the video listed is not a sure-fire way to get the achievement for everyone; it's still bugged and doing them 'in order' isn't the solution. And, evidently, it is still not fixed. It's why this post was made, to keep awareness up that the haystack has not, in fact, been fixed completely or given a feasible solution (or compensation for some) to avoid more of these mistakes. As for gold compensation, placing a gold-standard (pardon my pun and alternative use of the phrase) on an NPC to 'progress a chapter', when all evidence points to them being optional except in the circumstance of the achievement, is ridiculous in the nicest sense. Me stumbling onto this bug in the first place and simply asking for 3g, as proven as a receipt, is proof of authenticity. ANET's decision to make that statute of limitation for a chapter is their own risk, so I don't see it as unreasonable for players to respond in kind when they lose their money trying to follow instruction and guidelines of a GM (or many others with repeating dialogue) that simply cannot confirm that the solution they've provided is efficient. There's enough proof from other players that it doesn't matter the order of the NPCs you talk to, the haystack remains bugged. It's faulty; that's why players losing gold when a GM is saying "there is no problem, just do it this way" and are still having problems is a major flaw in damage-control. I'm confident that when a solution is made it will likely be posted here to avoid duplicate threads, but so far the solutions even displayed in tickets (as shown above, if you would review) are lackluster or without credibility. This is the nicest and most thorough way I can explain it.

Agreed; it's clear the "GM Zody" I spoke to went and looked up the video, watched it, and then regurgitated what was seen and has no actual idea on why the haystack is bugged to begin with. I'd even have taken "We're not sure what the issue is but we're working to fix it; please take your gold back as compensation for our error" as adequate damage control, but instead it's a double-down. I'd even wager the next argument rendered in my ticket will next be "it's an achievement and that too is optional so we are not compelled to return gold you spent on an optional achievement", even if that wasn't the initial reason they claimed that gold cannot be returned in "On The Case" involving the haystack.

This bug is still an issue. I even have an open ticket requesting I get 3 gold back from an NPC that you allegedly have to speak to as part of a 'specific order' you have to speak to the witnesses in and have spoken with a "GM Zody" on this matter, and their response to this was as follows: I would like to point out that the 3 Gold NPC that, allegedly, you have to speak to BEFORE you can speak to the Stablemaster and get the hay to 'function properly' is not mandatory to progress to the second scream and assist Chul-Moo. I even followed Ayin's video (that's the hyperlink the GM gave, not an official Guild Wars ANET review but rather a player's stream-clip) to the letter and that's how I lost the 3 gold in the first place (Yes, it's only 3 gold, but gold is an important currency that can be exchanged with gems, which is ANETs main source of siphoning money into the F2P game, and that's an exponential amount you're losing through trial and error and 'developer intent'). Hopefully they fix the actual bug and the actual issue, because if this was, as an official GM has said, 'by design', then it feels rather dirty and sloppy.

Despite there being a larger European playerbase, and Thanksgiving being a Western culture/tradition, personally I don't see a downside for other cultures around the world to have a holiday event in GW2 centered around bonus-mining/harvesting/lumbering and maybe some games/recipes/themes centered around gratitude. I figured Winter's Day already encompasses that, minus the gathering-boons, but I always wish there was an incorporation for that essence for Thanksgiving as well. So very few games have Thanksgiving, and it's one of the most important lessons to come back to: celebration with your loved ones, good food, and being thankful for what you were able to have and keep that year. Doesn't have to be long or grand, but would certainly be comforting for those that can't be with their families to have another reason to celebrate, perhaps to bring them closer as a unit. Unpopular and certainly to be ridiculed by the forum masses, as they are wont to, but it couldn't keep me from posting my thoughts about it. May your year be a joyous 'Harvest Boon'

Some tattoo options on skin/fur patterns at character customization wouldn't be a bad idea, now that I think about it!

I'm indifferent on the elf ear design. It's decent on some races, not so much on others, and it's a product that people will either buy or not. So my next inquiry should be taken with the full knowledge that I'm not rejecting the fantasy-aspect of elf ears from a fictional game. That being said: Why, out of the blue, did we get elf ears in Tyria? Elves, apart from their plant counterparts (sylvari, you get the joke), don't particularly have a history in Tyria, and every time I have tried to look for anything significant on elf-presence, I've been met with "sylvari". I haven't seen any other cosmetics that stand apart from the GW2 universe like these do, so seeing these elf ears suddenly take to the shelf seems like an outlier in contrast to how the gem store is typically run. Is this related to Rings of Power in any way, and if so, why? Is this a sign of ANET's support with Amazon, kind of like what Fortnite does by jamming products into their games to advertise? At the end of the day it's a sale, so the ultimate goal is 'money', so I'm clear on that. And for a business, there's no harm in that either. I'm interested to hear the opinions of others as well, provided they are constructive and aren't intended to cause harm or push drama. This post is not an argument, but rather the byproduct of confusion on my part. If any Guild Wars veterans or players who have played longer than I have can chip in to help explain their take on this to me, that would be greatly appreciated.

Wait, I was joking earlier -- is it official that ANET is backing Amazon and the Rings of Power?

It looks okay on some races, and while it should be acknowledged that every playable race can use them, I honestly feel like this package was randomly dropped out of nowhere alongside the Shrine Guardian merchandise. Did someone's television show tank so badly that they reached out to ANET?

Since underwater combat was implemented at the start of GW2's release, then it's up to ANET to fix what is broken and/or dysfunctional. Considering how widely-praised EoD 'Cantha' seems to be, the biggest blunder(s) have been the underwater combat with a few of the classes, and the comparisons of the end-map metas in their entirety. If the classes were all capable of fighting underwater and simply were outclassed by meta-builds here and there, there wouldn't be much of an argument. But considering some of them cannot even function and their base-classes are the more preferable choices in an expansion that spokes the new builds and encourages everyone to try them, then that means the release was rushed and the fixes may or may not be coming shortly after. Here's to hoping we get more communication from ANET to put concerns and questions to rest, if they haven't already.

Personally I think Cantha was a large wasted opportunity when it comes to underwater combat considering the end-meta opponent we face and the element she is attributed to, where the giant siege turtle can fight underwater but the Mech cannot become a submarine or torpedo, let alone swim. I'm hoping ANET is taking the oversight with a grain of salt and working towards a solution that will either improve underwater combat overall or overhaul the system (more of the former, less likely on the latter). If their customers are still a higher priority, then they've undoubtedly been hammered over the head with this semi-functional playstyle and should take steps to fix it. Let's hope they are, and that they do.

IF STUCK, PLEASE READ: If Folke or any escorts become stuck, there is little-to-no chance you can provoke them into moving again, as mobs will not continuously spawn. The best thing you can do is allow the NPC to lead and exclusively target the foe that the NPC is gunning down and let them set the pace. If you clear mobs too quickly, the NPC will stay put "unprovoked". The solution to completing the Maws meta is to take your skyscales and go straight to the portal spike site, "1" (flame) it [the tall needle in the center] down with your skyscales, and kill the Keeper that spawns. You will not get credit for portal spikes, but you will move the meta forward to the final boss.

I'm feeling the same way; not the same, and it's a bit of a pain to have to acquire the jade bot through story again and again, just to be able to use those ziplines. It's not even like HoT, where all you had to do was train in certain masteries to use the mushrooms and gliders. It was a pain because they didn't exist prior, but you didn't have to re-acquire a glider every time you went to Maguuma. Definitely not a fan of this.