Thank you, ANet, for making the Strike Mission optional

[Gibson.4036]

What the title says. Very much appreciated that for Return to Bound by Blood (Grothmar Valley), you made the strike mission a bonus, and not required for tier 4.

Thank you!

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm glad it is only optional. Did not want to log this evening, but now I am curious what is in the list ^^.

[Gibson.4036]

6 minutes ago, HnRkLnXqZ.1870 said:

Thanks for the heads up. I'm glad it is only optional. Did not want to log this evening, but now I am curious what is in the list ^^.

It's on the wiki already. I'm not in game either, so hopefully the information there is correct and I wasn't premature. 😄

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Return_to_Bound_by_Blood

[thehipone.6812]

To be fair, this strike is really easy and really fast.  7 clovers is a great reward.

[Gibson.4036]

10 minutes ago, thehipone.6812 said:

To be fair, this strike is really easy and really fast.  7 clovers is a great reward.

That's cool. I'm glad they dangled a nice reward rather than requiring it for completion. Flexibility is welcome!

[AliamRationem.5172]

4 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

That's cool. I'm glad they dangled a nice reward rather than requiring it for completion. Flexibility is welcome!

Nice! 7 clovers?  Count me in!

[Flasterko.4087]

yeah, thank you for making it optional

[genjonah.1253]

No no no no no, you misunderstand- they’ve made one of the other things optional, like one of the story missions. Because there is zero chance I am going to do an instance for 10 hatched Chili’s over the easiest and fastest strike mission for 7 clovers

[Bingus.4236]

Shame they don't make these awful jumping puzzles optional

Edited October 19, 2021 by Bingus.4236

[mindcircus.1506]

36 minutes ago, Bingus.4236 said:

Shame they don't make these awful jumping puzzles optional

This really is the head scratcher.

Make a strike mission so easy that can be solo'ed optional...

but make Chalice of Tears and Retrospective Runaaround mandatory?

[Handsel.2891]

3 hours ago, mindcircus.1506 said:

This really is the head scratcher.

Make a strike mission so easy that can be solo'ed optional...

but make Chalice of Tears and Retrospective Runaaround mandatory?

There is frequent mesmer assistance available on LFG for Chalice of Tears and Retrospective Runaround can be cheesed with mounts, especially the Skyscale.

I'm surprised you didn't mention Searing Ascent. But you can skip that with a Teleport to Friend, can't you.

[Handsel.2891]

4 hours ago, Bingus.4236 said:

Shame they don't make these awful jumping puzzles optional

It's part of the content. With that logic, everything should be optional since everything is awful according to one player or another.

[Sobx.1758]

Luckily every return to... achievement is optional, so if someone doesn't want to do the jps, they don't have to. Just... don't expect the reward 😛 

[Bingus.4236]

7 hours ago, MikeG.6389 said:

It's part of the content. With that logic, everything should be optional since everything is awful according to one player or another.

 

Strike Missions are also part of the content but they have applied a dispensation so people don't have to do them because of whatever reasons that are probably pointless when I presume DRMs are going to be part of later return to achievements.  Jumping Puzzles are pretty marmite content,  people like myself absolutely don't like them doing them and there are some people with disabilities who are fine with the rest of the game that struggle with these. Likely most people use mesmers and port to friend to skip JP because the content is rubbish.

[Gibson.4036]

I found chalice of tears to be the most difficult of the JPs so far, until I remembered I had shadow portal for some of those late, difficult jumps. Searing assent isn’t that hard. It’s more about knowing where to go, unless you find hitting the grappling spots while gliding difficult.

TacO and Tekkits guides are great aids in doing them.

I think the hard part with doing instanced content long after it is introduced is that a significant portion of the player base has done it, now does it super efficiently, and has little patience with people who are doing it for the first time.

It’s good to hear this one is easy. Maybe I’ll jump in public later this week and see how it goes, though I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the point where I actually need clovers. 

I hope strike missions remain optional  for completion of the rest of the Return achievements.
 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Gibson.4036

[Handsel.2891]

2 hours ago, Bingus.4236 said:

 

Strike Missions are also part of the content but they have applied a dispensation so people don't have to do them because of whatever reasons that are probably pointless when I presume DRMs are going to be part of later return to achievements.  Jumping Puzzles are pretty marmite content,  people like myself absolutely don't like them doing them and there are some people with disabilities who are fine with the rest of the game that struggle with these. Likely most people use mesmers and port to friend to skip JP because the content is rubbish.

It's not the Strike Mission that's optional. It's any of the 16 achievements, out of which, only 15 are needed to complete the meta. You base your complaint on the fact that they put the word "Bonus" in the achievement for the Strike Mission.

Your opinion about JPs don't invalidate them as content. Your assumptions about other players' experience don't, either. But consider this: when you press "F" on a mesmer portal to get to the end chest of most puzzles, it earns the same recognition from the game as when you do it properly. Mesmers even port people from checkpoint to checkpoint in Chalice of Tears. JPs have been optional content since the first player opened their first portal to an end chest.

What I find rubbish is that you get the same reward when being ported as I do when I do them properly.

[Ashantara.8731]

17 hours ago, thehipone.6812 said:

To be fair, this strike is really easy and really fast.  7 clovers is a great reward.

Yes, this mission can truly be considered infantile mode (SAB reference 😉 ).

[Fueki.4753]

I'm glad that the Strike Mission still counts towards the 15 required for the meta-achievement.

This has let me finish the meta achievement without bothering with the torch in the Jump Puzzle.

[Bingus.4236]

33 minutes ago, MikeG.6389 said:

It's not the Strike Mission that's optional. It's any of the 16 achievements, out of which, only 15 are needed to complete the meta. You base your complaint on the fact that they put the word "Bonus" in the achievement for the Strike Mission.

Your opinion about JPs don't invalidate them as content. Your assumptions about other players' experience don't, either. But consider this: when you press "F" on a mesmer portal to get to the end chest of most puzzles, it earns the same recognition from the game as when you do it properly. Mesmers even port people from checkpoint to checkpoint in Chalice of Tears. JPs have been optional content since the first player opened their first portal to an end chest.

What I find rubbish is that you get the same reward when being ported as I do when I do them properly.

 

Bonus implies that it is only the strike mission that is optional but if I can do the strike mission instead of the JP and complete the achievement then that's all good and i misunderstood.

 

No, it's not particularly fair that people can cheat a thing and get the same rewards but does this exist because lots of people dislike JP's. So it's the worst of both worlds, people who do enjoy JP get them devalued by these cheats being allowed. People who don't like JP's get them forced on them in legendary achievements and are prompted to cheat or pay gold to bypass.

[Handsel.2891]

16 minutes ago, Bingus.4236 said:

 

Bonus implies that it is only the strike mission that is optional but if I can do the strike mission instead of the JP and complete the achievement then that's all good and i misunderstood.

 

No, it's not particularly fair that people can cheat a thing and get the same rewards but does this exist because lots of people dislike JP's. So it's the worst of both worlds, people who do enjoy JP get them devalued by these cheats being allowed. People who don't like JP's get them forced on them in legendary achievements and are prompted to cheat or pay gold to bypass.

Don't think that I don't get what you mean. I am not a fan of strike missions, myself. I have my reasons and they are not related to the quality of the content, but it doesn't change the fact that I don't want to feel pressured to do them. But I do, if I intend to finish certain achievements and collections.

I also refrain myself from voicing that opinion, especially in a derogatory manner. The game is multifaceted in terms of types of content it offers. Just because I don't like one type of activity, I don't think I should feel violated by its existence. 

Just today, while doing the map achievements in Grothmar Valley, there were several outcries in map chat about the JP being "kitten". This kind of behaviour aggravates me more than it should. And it was all because this JP, like Chalice of Tears, cannot be skipped with the help of a mesmer.

The fact that this is the first "Return to..." meta where there are more objectives than needed suggests to me that there are more people like me, who don't appreciate forced group content, than you, who don't like JPs. That might be the reason why they worded the achievement as they did.

[mythical.6315]

16 minutes ago, MikeG.6389 said:

who don't appreciate forced group content

It’s an MMO. You’re also obtaining what’s essentially a “free” legendary amulet as all you’re doing are achievements. 

[Handsel.2891]

5 minutes ago, mythical.6315 said:

It’s an MMO. You’re also obtaining what’s essentially a “free” legendary amulet as all you’re doing are achievements. 

I think I am not wrong for having the opinion I have. Most of PVE is doable without grouping up. It's one of the main reasons I play this game. This is also a game with a lot of platforming in- and outside of jumping puzzles and story content that feels like a single player game with optional grouping enabled. This is in part why they changed the last story step of the core story to soloable, if you were around then.

Free is relative. The time it takes to finish off all the Return achievements is enough to farm a legendary's worth in gold.

[mythical.6315]

1 minute ago, MikeG.6389 said:

I think I am not wrong for having the opinion I have. Most of PVE is doable without grouping up. It's one of the main reasons I play this game. This is also a game with a lot of platforming in- and outside of jumping puzzles and story content that feels like a single player game with optional grouping enabled. This is in part why they changed the last story step of the core story to soloable, if you were around then.

Free is relative. The time it takes to finish off all the Return achievements is enough to farm a legendary's worth in gold.

Having to “group up” and having to do group content are two different things. 

[Handsel.2891]

8 minutes ago, mythical.6315 said:

Having to “group up” and having to do group content are two different things. 

I'm not sure what this conversation is about, now. Yes they are different things. World bosses are group content. I can do them without having to group up, though. Strike missions, not so much. And? I was talking about my preference, like how this thread was born out of OP's preference of not having to do the strike mission. Possibly, for the same reason I don't like doing them.

[Gibson.4036]

You can pay people to carry you through instanced content.

Not only can you portal through many JPs, you can turn on an overlay that tells you the exact path to take and exactly where to jump, while having a position rewinder (not usable in this particular JP) or portal handy if you miss the jump.

Shortcuts exist in all kinds of content, and players are clever at making them, even if the devs don't provide them.

It's nice, that in this case, the dev's gave us some flexibility so we don't have to cheese the part we don't like just to get to completion.

It reminds me of several of the classes I took in college.  "Here are five essay questions that might be on the final. You'll find three of them actually on the final the day you show up, and you'll have to answer two of them." Just enough restriction to make you engage the content, while allowing for flexibility to avoid areas that are of particular disinterest or difficulty to the individual.