SAB Not New Player Friendly WTF!

[Xperiment.6923]

Thanks alot anet for threwing me in an instance by myself having no clue where to go and how things work. Thanks for letting me fall off a cloud during the race with no clue how to get back up there? I didn't know you liked to gatekeep your festivals to only veterans playing nonstop for last 10 years! Would making some tutorial races and some tutorial worlds, be that difficult for you? You get a "D" on this festival!

[AliamRationem.5172]

🍿

[Xperiment.6923]

LOL at least that popcorn made me laugh! So Im suppose to get shot out of a cannon ...then turned into a bee...gee how could any new player miss that?!?! no idea what happens after that cause the race Fk'n ended after i fell a zillion times. I'd like to be able to at least finished the effn race for the daily! Even the winters day race, i could at least keep up with the pack to know where to go. That race is also slanted towards vets with a roller beetle. Well im changing my score on the SAB race, Anet you get an "F"! What a Horrendous Event!

[Linken.6345]

use the white cloud npc to the left in each hut instead of the human one if you want the hand holdy mode.

[Xperiment.6923]

Yes I want that LOL!  Thx!

[Sarius.9285]

not sure how playing for 10 years is supposed to make that easier lol? 

 

There never was a tutorial so we all had to use guides or learn it ourselves, still one of the few actual fun festivals

[Cyninja.2954]

5 hours ago, Xperiment.6923 said:

I didn't know you liked to gatekeep your festivals to only veterans playing nonstop for last 10 years!

 

The entire event is a call back to 80s gaming, with the pitfalls it had.

 

The main distiction here is not veteran or new player. It's player who enjoy figuring stuff out on their own, and those who do not.

 

5 hours ago, Xperiment.6923 said:

 

Would making some tutorial races and some tutorial worlds, be that difficult for you? You get a "D" on this festival!

 

If you can't be botheted to put in your own 5 minutes of figuring stuff out, there are tons of guide videos you can watch. 

 

Or you could ask in map chat for players who want to group and explain things.

 

This is 100% a "you" issue and how you are approaching this.

[Noah Salazar.5430]

use journalist mode (happy clound npc on left from villager)

 

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by Noah Salazar.5430

[Danikat.8537]

SAB is not supposed to be easy (except in explorer mode) and it will require you to figure things out on your own. The solution is to take your time, look at what's around you and what abilities you have and experiment to see what works. Some things will take multiple tries, but you'll get there.

It's based on 80's games (especially platformers and adventure games) and figuring out what you need to do was a big part of the challenge of those games. Some of that was necessary because of technical restrictions; they couldn't have built in tutorials (beyond tiny things like the first 1-up mushroom in Mario being almost impossible to miss so you'd realise it's a good thing to collect) or long explainations, but the developers also built entire games around that concept where exploring, experimenting and trying things even knowing you might fail and have to start over was what made it fun.

[Luthan.5236]

Try the infantile mode (now called "exploration mode") and the normal mode. Imo normal mode should be good for most people without handicaps - unless you want infantile for the achievements. (The annual one has some.) The tribulation mode is pretty hard and needs a ton of training.

Also the race and other stuff (coin collection adventures in the zones) ... got added much later. The first playthroughs you should aim to normally complete the zones in normal mode. Using a guide maybe (recommended since the festival time is limited) to get all the items and songs for the char. You can also try collecting all baubles - which will lead you off the normal regular path. Also the other achievements where you need to explore a lot - here the guides help as well.

Try it maybe with zone one first. Zone 2 is harder as well - especially if you don't take the shortcuts because you want to complete the achievements.

Tribulation mode only once you have finished all other stuff. And when you have time after doing your daily run for the bauble bubbles - which I'd recommend to do so you can get stuff from the vendors. (One daily run in normal mode zone 1 and 2.)

Edited March 30, 2023 by Luthan.5236

[vandrefalk.6823]

8 hours ago, Xperiment.6923 said:

Thanks alot anet for threwing me in an instance by myself having no clue where to go and how things work. Thanks for letting me fall off a cloud during the race with no clue how to get back up there? I didn't know you liked to gatekeep your festivals to only veterans playing nonstop for last 10 years! Would making some tutorial races and some tutorial worlds, be that difficult for you? You get a "D" on this festival!

 

There are tutorial worlds; they used to be called 'infantile mode' but have been renamed 'explorer' mode and in the world entrance house you can see the happy cloud you can approach. It will hold your hand through all tough jumps and challenges while you learn the ropes.

 

As for the race; learn by doing/playing - ever heard of that?

 

And exactly how did you learn dungeons, strikes, raids, fractals, open world metas, builds, crafting, gearing, etc.? Maybe you followed some guides from others who made tutorials on these things. Youtube, websites, Internet is crawling with guides for you on everything - even SAB.

 

Now stop trolling and whining.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

I admit this festival is probably the worst when it comes to teaching new players, combined with the fact that players who have already done it the year before have a massive advantage due to having already purchased all the items, which allows them to move through the levels much quicker.

 

You need to think of SAB a bit like Fractals, its something you work yourself up to. I wouldn't try to do it all in one year either..you'll probably burn yourself out like that.

Edited March 30, 2023 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[Danikat.8537]

23 minutes ago, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

You need to think of SAB a bit like Fractals, its something you work yourself up to. I wouldn't try to do it all in one year either..you'll probably burn yourself out like that.

That's a really good point too. SAB might not have gotten any new levels (except the World 3 preview) in years, but a lot has been added to worlds 1 and 2 and it will take a long time to do all the achievements and collect all the items.

If it was my first year I'd just focus on finishing each level in explorer and maybe normal mode, then on getting all the SAB skill upgrades (you need some to finish it, others are optional). Depending on how much time you have and whether you're using a guide it might be possible to move onto other stuff after that, but that would be my initial goal.

[Gibson.4036]

The coin adventure you can activate any time is the tutorial for the hub race. You won't have the pressure of competing with other players, and you can at any point click to reset to the start.

Also, check out BlishHUD if you would like tutorial, but don't want to have to constantly stop and start videos in another monitor.

For inside the SAB levels themselves, you can use Infantile Exploration Mode to pave the way to the shops so you can grab the skill upgrades, which help.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Gibson.4036

[Rumpus.1234]

6 hours ago, Cyninja.2954 said:

The entire event is a call back to 80s gaming, with the Pitfall!s it had.

FTFY

[HeroineDark.6287]

While i understand ANet not adding a full tutorial, i do wish after 10 years they'd add a few QoL's. 

 

1) a mini map so i can place markers to help friends. 

2) enabling mentor tag so when they're lost, i can say "over here" and they see my tag. 

 

 

[Luthan.5236]

The race is totally unimportant. Most people avoid it completely since does not give any rewards - except the achievement where you need to do it super fast. (Which is very hard imo. And not worth the trouble. Just a few bauble bubbles that you can farm elsewhere a ton of.)

[Danikat.8537]

For the race: The best option for now is probably to give up on it, it's an optional bonus activity which is not required for anything even within SAB. It's not worth the time you're appaprently having to put into it.

 

For SAB levels: the chests don't matter, they're optional extra objectives. (But if you do want to open them you need to kill monkeys to find the keys.) Your first time through all you need to worry about is reaching the checkpoints, then the cage with the boss above it at the end of the level. (The 3rd level in each world has a boss fight instead of a cage.)

If you're having this much trouble with it I strongly recommend asking your guild or friends to help you. Anyone who has done it before can show you the route to follow and explain whatever it is that's getting you so stuck.

If you can tell us if you're on an NA or EU server and when you're usually online someone here can probably come and help you.
 

8 hours ago, Xperiment.6923 said:

But if a player has to go watch a video, You've done BAD DESIGN. Like watching a bad TV show and you need an aftershow to explain what the hell happened in that episode.

Just in case it's unclear: no one here works for Anet or has anything to do with the design of SAB or the game as a whole. We're all players like you and just trying to help you understand.

[Rebuke.3176]

Some of you were bullies in the extreme.

For anyone to vent, you must do it the way you want or you pile onto the person because they didn't think 'your way'.

Advice, great.

Bullying comments, like a second grader on the playground, not good and not welcome in the player HELP forum. 

Please do grow up and be kind -- we need good players in this game, not just the trolls who hate and demean others for fun as we see almost everyday in many game modes in this game alone.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Rebuke.3176

[Khisanth.2948]

On 3/30/2023 at 9:30 AM, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

players who have already done it the year before have a massive advantage due to having already purchased all the items, which allows them to move through the levels much quicker.

How is that an advantage? As far as I know there has been no change in difficulty. That would only be an advantage if they made the whole thing harder this year or some other change indirectly made it harder. People who did it in previous years had to start the same way.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

2 hours ago, Khisanth.2948 said:

How is that an advantage? As far as I know there has been no change in difficulty. That would only be an advantage if they made the whole thing harder this year or some other change indirectly made it harder. People who did it in previous years had to start the same way.

What do you mean? Doing the dailies and annual achievements that you have to repeat every year is far easier once you have all the items unlocked, and without them its a slog.

 

I'd say a single daily can take up to 3x-4x as long without them, not just from much lower DPS but also from lack of utility which means spending alot of time evading enemies instead of stunning them and so on.

 

Newer players have to do all the original achievements, the dailies, and their first year of annual achievements all at once while also slowly unlocking all the weapons, kits and upgrades. Its alot, even for a full month, and that's with visual guides; its far slower if they figure everything out on their own.

Edited April 3, 2023 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[Linken.6345]

51 minutes ago, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

What do you mean? Doing the dailies and annual achievements that you have to repeat every year is far easier once you have all the items unlocked, and without them its a slog.

 

I'd say a single daily can take up to 3x-4x as long without them, not just from much lower DPS but also from lack of utility which means spending alot of time evading enemies instead of stunning them and so on.

 

Newer players have to do all the original achievements, the dailies, and their first year of annual achievements all at once while also slowly unlocking all the weapons, kits and upgrades. Its alot, even for a full month, and that's with visual guides; its far slower if they figure everything out on their own.

And that is still not an advantage since everyone have had to do the same when they started.

What enemies do you need ot stun? you wack them with the stick until they are dead.

[Danikat.8537]

Having the items already does mean you can take a simpler route through the levels because you don't have to get to the shops to buy them, and won't need to repeat sections to save up the baubles to buy them. Of course you'll have to have done it the 'long way' at least once, but it means this year it will be quicker to complete each level.

But the OP hasn't said anything about trying to get all the achievements and farm all the items in one go, they're just trying to finish the levels. They're also focusing a lot on the race in the hub, presumably because it's one of the first things you find when you go into Super Adventure Box.

Also even with the other festivals we normally advise new players not to try to do everything in one go. You don't have to unlock a bunch of special skills to play any of them, but if it's your first time doing any of the festivals it's better to focus on completing each of the activities once (or at least trying them out to find out which ones you like) rather than going straight into farming all the items. They've all got more stuff than you could reasonably collect in one year - by design - so it's best to focus on learning how it works, then on completing a few additional goals and leave the rest for another year.

[Gibson.4036]

You can use Infantile Exploration Mode to get in and grab the upgrades quickly.

I've largely ignored SAB for years, but this year got interested and it was pretty simple to get "geared up".

Edited April 3, 2023 by Gibson.4036

[Cyninja.2954]

20 hours ago, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

What do you mean? Doing the dailies and annual achievements that you have to repeat every year is far easier once you have all the items unlocked, and without them its a slog.

 

I'd say a single daily can take up to 3x-4x as long without them, not just from much lower DPS but also from lack of utility which means spending alot of time evading enemies instead of stunning them and so on.

Not true, though knowing or having experience with SAB will obviously help. 

I started SAB on an alt account this year(all tribulation weapons, all achievements, all skins unlocked, etc. on main account). It took 1 day worth of dailies to get nearly all "upgrades" (and by nearly I mean I didn't bother with getting not immediately needed upgrades like different songs for example. I certainly had the baubles).

By dailies I mean completing W1-1 to W1-3 and W2-1 to W2-3 in normal with a lot of baubles to spare (a normal run rewards 14 bauble bubbles daily, that alone is the equvalent of 3,500 baubles).

 

The main downside was:

- not immediately having the nunchucks or the glove, meaning using the short cut eagle wasn't available immediately (had to reenter 2-2 after getting the glove)

- not having 5 hearts but 3

- not having a large bauble purse

all of which was fixed with the first normal run and converting bauble bubbles for buying upgrades with leaving and reentering specific zones once or twice.

20 hours ago, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

Newer players have to do all the original achievements, the dailies, and their first year of annual achievements all at once while also slowly unlocking all the weapons, kits and upgrades. Its alot, even for a full month, and that's with visual guides; its far slower if they figure everything out on their own.

A new character can unlock EVERYTHING within 1 day. 

Now as far as achievements, sure those take time. Not sure why players should now get them faster.

As far as dailies and daily related achievements, yes those are timegated. Just like every other festival daily events.

Edited April 3, 2023 by Cyninja.2954