What's the deal with "Back to the Past" (broken?)?

[angrax.1372]

I have this achievement missing for the Return to Eye of the North achievement set. The description simply states to replay a past mission using the Scrying Pool in Eye of the North.

 

While playing The Ice Brood Saga, you naturally go there and play both Forging Steel and the Darkrime Delves. But completing both (twice now) does not count towards the achievement.

 

Some people said to read the pamphlet in the entryway and that somehow Cragstead is related to this (although there is no mention of it in the achievement text). I just finished that story in the reintroduced Season 1 and got both artifacts from the Hatchery and Gragstead and I still see no other option in the Scrying pool other than Forging Steel.

 

What do I have to do to complete this?

[AgentMoore.9453]

I believe they're talking about the Season 1 visions of the past and not the LS5 stories (which is what Forging Steel & Darkrime are). You may have to do this on a character that's completed IBS, but it's been a hot minute so I'm not 100% on that. Back when they first added these missions, you did have to interact with a pamphlet in the hallway and then go out into the world and interact with an object related to those stories (which would then unlock them for you in the scrying pool), however, with the S1 re-release, some things may have changed.

Here are the old steps:
- Go to EotN
- Interact with this in the hallway
- Collect mementos for each vision of the past, like this one for Canach's story
- Return to EotN
- Interact with the scrying pool and select one of the LS1 stories you've unlocked
- ???
- Profit!

I'd say give that a shot and see if it unlocks those stories in your scrying pool. If not, try finding those mementos and accessing those stories through your S1 story journal to see if maybe they shifted the credit there instead.

[Sladverr.1386]

It's definitely broken. I've collected the first two momentos and they're not showing in the Scrying Pool. Seems like a huge oversight.

[Elrik.1274]

I have the same problem. 
I never finished it with vision of the past: fire and steel. I tried getting the cragstead one and i got the wolftooth (?) and unlocked the archievement for the vision of the past cragstead but i am not able to access it in the scrying pool. 

Another odd thing for me is that Aurene is completely missing from EotN. Her voice played throughout the whole of Icebrood but she never was visible. 
 

[AgentMoore.9453]

On 4/29/2022 at 2:07 AM, Sladverr.1386 said:

It's definitely broken.

 

9 hours ago, Elrik.1274 said:

I have the same problem. 

Alright, so it sounds like we've confirmed that finding the mementos no longer adds these stories to the scrying pool, which leaves only one thing left to try: Doing these stories through the story journal after finding the related mementos to kick off eligibility for the 'Back to the Past' achievement. Because you have to play story journal steps in order (at least the first time you do them), it may take a few instances before you get to Cragstead or the Hatchery, but if the patch notes are correct, this should tick off credit for you.

Here's what the patch notes from the 19th had to say about it:
- The Cragstead and North Nolan Hatchery missions have been retired from the Scrying Pool. Their associated achievements are now completed by playing the Story Journal version of the mission.

Now, if you go and get the mementos and play S1 through the story journal and this achievement still won't complete for you, the next thing to do is to file a bug report, because that would mean their patch notes are wrong (or incomplete).

[angrax.1372]

For anyone facing this issue, indeed the Cragstead or the Hatchery will no longer count towards the Return To... achievements even if you complete their steps in the Season 1 chapter. You will have to do either of the other two stories left. I did Canach's and I was able to complete the series and get my legendary. 

 

To get the achievement until they fix it, you need to:

 

1 - In the hallway leading to the Scrying Pool, read the pamphlet which tells which item to get next to unlock the scrying pool entry

2 - From what I remember, if you have not done it yet, you might have to obtain the Cragstead and the Hatchery items before it allows you to collect Canach's item (you do not need to do it while playing the Season 1 Story, just go inside each instance and grab the items). This should enable the next item in the list, Canach's.

3 - Once Canach's item is collected, go to the Scrying pool and replay his mission

4 - Achievement complete

 

Hurry because if this bug persists and they make the other stories into season 1, you will be stuck until they solve it.

 

P.S. I completed this achievement before I was done with the entirety of the Season 1 re-release. It is possible that by completing the whole thing you get the achievements but I have not tried it. Regardless, if you do the steps above, you will get it before the new Season 1 chapters are released.

[Yoast.8572]

In September 2022 I've searched far and wide to complete this achievement.

Since the re-release of Living World season 1, the unlockable stories for the Scrying Pool are removed.

Also the items to unlock episodes from LWS1 are gone from their locations.

Replaying the first 3 of the re-released episodes will not grant you the achievement either.

 

The way I managed to unlock the achievement was to do LWS1 episode 4 - "Tower of Nightmares".

1. Start the episode from the hero panel.

2. Follow the quests until you end up at the Tower of Nightmares.

3. Join a public group and work your way up to the top of the tower, finishing the instance.

4. On the top level, past the big Tri-key Chest and near some vendors and the diving goggles, step into the green star and enter your personal story instance.

5. Complete this story step and get the achievement "Back to the Past".

 

I hope this helped you getting closer obtaining that fancy Legendary Amulet!

[syszery.1592]

On 9/24/2022 at 4:19 AM, Yoast.8572 said:

In September 2022 I've searched far and wide to complete this achievement.

Since the re-release of Living World season 1, the unlockable stories for the Scrying Pool are removed.

Also the items to unlock episodes from LWS1 are gone from their locations.

Replaying the first 3 of the re-released episodes will not grant you the achievement either.

 

The way I managed to unlock the achievement was to do LWS1 episode 4 - "Tower of Nightmares".

1. Start the episode from the hero panel.

2. Follow the quests until you end up at the Tower of Nightmares.

3. Join a public group and work your way up to the top of the tower, finishing the instance.

4. On the top level, past the big Tri-key Chest and near some vendors and the diving goggles, step into the green star and enter your personal story instance.

5. Complete this story step and get the achievement "Back to the Past".

 

I hope this helped you getting closer obtaining that fancy Legendary Amulet!

 

Thank you so much for sharing this. It worked for me, too :-)

[Chris J.9368]

On 9/23/2022 at 7:19 PM, Yoast.8572 said:

In September 2022 I've searched far and wide to complete this achievement.

Since the re-release of Living World season 1, the unlockable stories for the Scrying Pool are removed.

Also the items to unlock episodes from LWS1 are gone from their locations.

Replaying the first 3 of the re-released episodes will not grant you the achievement either.

 

The way I managed to unlock the achievement was to do LWS1 episode 4 - "Tower of Nightmares".

1. Start the episode from the hero panel.

2. Follow the quests until you end up at the Tower of Nightmares.

3. Join a public group and work your way up to the top of the tower, finishing the instance.

4. On the top level, past the big Tri-key Chest and near some vendors and the diving goggles, step into the green star and enter your personal story instance.

5. Complete this story step and get the achievement "Back to the Past".

 

I hope this helped you getting closer obtaining that fancy Legendary Amulet!

Thank you as well, really weird situation they put you in but this worked for me too!

[Apollo.7352]

 

To anyone that is still having trouble with this, I managed to receive the achievement by fully completing episode 4 (The Tower of Nightmares). This was my first time doing the episode.

 

On 9/23/2022 at 10:19 PM, Yoast.8572 said:

In September 2022 I've searched far and wide to complete this achievement.

Since the re-release of Living World season 1, the unlockable stories for the Scrying Pool are removed.

Also the items to unlock episodes from LWS1 are gone from their locations.

Replaying the first 3 of the re-released episodes will not grant you the achievement either.

 

The way I managed to unlock the achievement was to do LWS1 episode 4 - "Tower of Nightmares".

1. Start the episode from the hero panel.

2. Follow the quests until you end up at the Tower of Nightmares.

3. Join a public group and work your way up to the top of the tower, finishing the instance.

4. On the top level, past the big Tri-key Chest and near some vendors and the diving goggles, step into the green star and enter your personal story instance.

5. Complete this story step and get the achievement "Back to the Past".

 

I hope this helped you getting closer obtaining that fancy Legendary Amulet!

 

To expand on this, it is not necessary to reach the top of the tower. Simply completing enough events will allow you to continue the story by talking to Majory at the entrance of the tower.

Edited December 22, 2022 by Apollo.7352

[Deratrius.4035]

ANet should really replace or fix this achievement. I went through forging steel twice due to the clue being the scrying pool but that was the only option in the pool for me. Next I ask chat and some people who mention getting the items in hatchery/cragstead and doing the story bits. Did that and still nothing. Now I find this thread saying to try more things.

 

For the most part I've been enjoying the return achievements, it's nice to replay the story and even getting some challenging puzzles, etc was fun. This on the other hand feels like trying to fix something that is broken. It's asking people on guild or map chat, nobody really knows for sure. You google and wiki and there's no clear information. I've spent hours on this and it's just pure frustration.

[Light.5861]

Spent hours to try find what was wrong since doing Forging steel didn't count towards Back to the Past achievement completion. It's still bugged :S Why do I have to spend so much time googling stuff, couldn't the game just tell me what to do?! So frustrating!!

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

6 hours ago, Light.5861 said:

Spent hours to try find what was wrong since doing Forging steel didn't count towards Back to the Past achievement completion. It's still bugged :S Why do I have to spend so much time googling stuff, couldn't the game just tell me what to do?! So frustrating!!

Did you read the posts in this thread?  They indicate how to complete the achievement. 

[Garrison Storm.3046]

So... just to confirm that the prescribed instructions on completing the "Return to Steel and Fire - Back to the Past" achievement is still valid... You need to run the Tower of Nightmares story from LS1, through "The Nightmare Incarnate".

Not intuitive at all, given all the rest of the achievements take place though Eye of the North and the Forging Steel/Darkrime Delves instances...

Anyway... my own experience... lucked out to have a dozen players within a Public Instance (not sure how this scales for people, but... buff up before you start!)….  We did not try to complete all the events as the group was blitzing for the top...  That said, note that once you have reached the top, opening the Tri-Key chest has no bearing on the achievement... at that point, you need to continue to ascend up the ramp to the "Nightmare Incarnate" portion of the story, and upon killing the boss "Ensolyss" at the end, you will be then credited with the "Back to the Past" achievement... maybe there are other ways, but that's what worked for me... I was confused when I got to the platform with the Tri-Key chest and wasn't awarded, so wanted to let others know... there is still that other step to go.... 

Best of luck!