Festival of the Four Winds Returns July 30

[DietPepsi.4371]

Hell yeah! Gonna soak up some rays, go on a nice boat ride, enjoy some beautiful views of the Labyrinthine Cliffs and the Bazaar. Bash up some robots, and die a few times. Maybe listen to the latest gossip. It's gonna be great, as always. =D

[Calvsie.3675]

Maybe the secret of the brown cow will finally be revealed!

[hugo.4705]

Just thought about something, we have ton of coastal maps but still not that much associated animals: Rays, Tropical giant flat jellyfishes or anemonas. The climate is quite arid or exotic around labyrinthine cliffs, sandswept or ember bay..

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Calvsie.3675 said:Maybe the secret of the brown cow will finally be revealed!

Yeah that cow.... had me pretty confused as to what and why as well.

[Bast.7253]

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Calvsie.3675 said:Maybe the secret of the brown cow will finally be revealed!

Yeah that cow.... had me pretty confused as to what and why as well.

Wasn’t the cow eluding to Kralk and the fact that he was displacing things and creating rifts?

[Bast.7253]

Also, I hope for more events in the cliffs though. I love the map but there just isn’t much to do there outside of buying things. And the trade in for the bundles of loot needs better rewards at the very least. More than some mini and a few kites.

[Tukaram.8256]

I had to look this one up on the wiki. No wonder I never heard of it - this is only the 2nd annual ha ha. I did play the Queen's Jubilee and the Bazaar of the Four Winds, but guess I missed this one last year. Might be fun :)

[Randulf.7614]

@Tukaram.8256 said:I had to look this one up on the wiki. No wonder I never heard of it - this is only the 2nd annual ha ha. I did play the Queen's Jubilee and the Bazaar of the Four Winds, but guess I missed this one last year. Might be fun :)

Yep, we got new gauntlet bosses and the use of mounts in the bazaar map which things a bit different

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@"cptaylor.2670" said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Calvsie.3675 said:Maybe the secret of the brown cow will finally be revealed!

Yeah that cow.... had me pretty confused as to what and why as well.

Wasn’t the cow eluding to Kralk and the fact that he was displacing things and creating rifts?

Possibly... it could just of been a cowriftic conundrum :)

[Fozzie.5370]

I've never participated in this coming festival of the Four Winds before. I'm not very Gw2 active at the moment due to enjoying the Summer Weather & outdoor life atm, but just wondered if the festival has much content and fun stuff to do ?

I started game just before Halloween, and so far that's way my favourite: I love the conversion of Lions Arch, packed with players, all the decorative stuff, and lots of different events going on. Labyrinth I spent countless hours farming its nice and easy, loots are very good, nice outfits, theme, achievements, skins etc. I think generally at that time of year there just seems to be so many more players online, where I find Summer too quiet / boring in terms of the lower player base. Never had the same feeling from Lunar New Year, Super Adventure Box, Dragon's Bash that I did from Halloween so didn't spend as much time with them although I still enjoy festivals.

Just wondered how Four Winds compares with Halloween on scale of fun & content, and if it gets good player numbers ?

Many thanks to anyone that can please advise <3

[Randulf.7614]

@Greg.7086 said:I've never participated in this coming festival of the Four Winds before. I'm not very Gw2 active at the moment due to enjoying the Summer Weather & outdoor life atm, but just wondered if the festival has much content and fun stuff to do ?

I started game just before Halloween, and so far that's way my favourite: I love the conversion of Lions Arch, packed with players, all the decorative stuff, and lots of different events going on. Labyrinth I spent countless hours farming its nice and easy, loots are very good, nice outfits, theme, achievements, skins etc. I think generally at that time of year there just seems to be so many more players online, where I find Summer too quiet / boring in terms of the lower player base. Never had the same feeling from Lunar New Year, Super Adventure Box, Dragon's Bash that I did from Halloween so didn't spend as much time with them although I still enjoy festivals.

Just wondered how Four Winds compares with Halloween on scale of fun & content, and if it gets good player numbers ?

Many thanks to anyone that can please advise <3

If you have never done it before, it arguably has the most content - I almost envy those who have never done it before

• a full, new map to explore and find a ton of collectibles and just interact with npcs. There's races and other events going on as well. It's pretty rich in ambience and a quite lovely map. It was probably better in some ways before mounts due to the unique dry top style mechanics, but otherwise it is a lot of fun

• Jubilee boss rush is a a series of reasonably intense zerg fight where zergs split up to take down some hard hitting bosses with unique mechanics in a time frame. It's a bit messy and there's a lot of arguing going on, but it's good fun if you are new. This is the grindy part of the festival for those who like that

• The Gauntlet is perhaps the highlight. A series of 1v1 fights in increasing difficulties, with unique mechanics leading up to some seriously tough fights for the average GW2 player and a genuine sense of accomplishment. Each battle takes place in a dome and you are watched on by other players awaiting their turn to enter the fight of their choosing. Beating the bosses is only part of it, you can set your own handicaps for better rewards and beat certain achievements. It is arguably one of GW2's finest pieces of content. Queuing is a frustration, but it's also part of the charm.

Jubilee and Gauntlet are below Divinity Reach and The Four Winds is in its own map near Deldrimor Front. Population levels are very high - arguably the highest of all festivals or at least rivals Halloween and Wintersday. It's certainly one of the top festivals for fun and variety.

tldr: It's a big festival and a very good one

[Fozzie.5370]

@ Randulf: Big thanks for that post, really very helpful. Much appreciated.

Will definitely make sure I make a point of logging. Sounds a good one.

[hugo.4705]

@Greg.7086Firstly, the festival take place in two different locations simultaneously, Divinity Reach at the Crown Pavilion and within Labyrinthine cliffs (access through air balloon trip).

Crown Pavilion:Here two main activities:1- boss rush, we clear the six quarters with different environment for big rewards, with others, group content (1 boss per quarter of the arena)2- cage of bosses, higher on iron platforms you can face terrible strong opoments only you, solo content, unique mechanics, you're able to inflict penalties to yourself for achievment

Labyrinthine Cliffs:Four main activities:1-Treasure hunt: collect coins all around to trade them for windscarfs.2-Sanctuary run: run to the summit while transformed into dolyak, also available as a multiplayer activity race.3-Aspect arena: never understood it, you fight other by using crystals.4-The effigy: destroy flame legion effigy by throwing water baloons on it

The main currency is festival tokens tradable for favors used for buying some rewards, mostly ls1 rewards: 1500 tokens as example... easy to obtain, adventures like mount ones and dailies award a ton of them.

I also recommand you to just explore, several unfamiliar landscapes within crown pavilion and the cliffs are beautiful, ton of achiev like gathering crystals.Ambience and Dialogues are really nice

(This is the small version, see randulf, ton of details)

[Fozzie.5370]

Thanks Hugo: Again much appreciated for your response.

Will definitely get a few mates to come back to play as well, we've all kinda gone AFK over summer due to a few reasons: Things just got a bit stale, we all noticed player population dropped quite significantly after a busy Winter/Spring period, we were really not interested in those mind-numbing World Boss Rush weeks, not a great deal else going on...so went to do different irl stuff and play different games. And sorry Anet we were not lured by you spamming Gem Store over whole Summer with every conceivable outfit, skin, perma tools, and even Halloween stuff on sale in July lmao...on a almost daily rotation :tongue:

Thanks to the responses here we will all come back for the Festival to have some cool fun :sunglasses:

[Fenom.9457]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"Fenom.9457" said:Yeahhhhh my favorite festival!

Returning to the original topic: what is it about FotFW that makes it your favorite?

During its first iteration, I loved the verticality along with the special skills used to bop around (although I confess that I found navigating really challenging). Sanctum Sprint and Survivor were a lot of fun, too.

And some of the dialogue (and the voice acting that interpreted it) was really fun, too. Specifically, this one:

Zephyrite:

Hi. Are you a charr?

Stranger:

Yep. Sure am.

Zephyrite:

I've never seen one before. The stories all say charr are super scary, but I don't think you're scary.

Stranger:

Excuse me? I'm plenty scary!

Zephyrite:

I dunno. I think you're beautiful. Your fur is pretty great!

Stranger:

I am not beautiful! Though, my fur is pretty great, isn't it? (chuckle) See ya 'round, cub.

I know it’s kind of a cheap answer, but everything. That is, I truly enjoy every piece of content (with the possible exception of the one griffin race that makes you fly through buildings). All the other festivals have more things that I find annoying.

But beyond that, the atmosphere of the place is amazing, and feels entirely unique. I just love it so much and I desperately want more. It just feels like more of a classical fantasy setting from that one track that only plays there (

). It just has something that the rest of the game doesn’t but that I really love, and I wish they’d add more stuff like it

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@Fenom.9457 said:Yeahhhhh my favorite festival!

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:what is it about FotFW that makes it your favorite?

@Fenom.9457 said:I know it’s kind of a cheap answer, but everything.

... beyond that, the atmosphere of the place is amazing, and feels entirely unique.That's a fine answer all by itself (not even "cheap" at half the price ;) )

[ugrakarma.9416]

last festival the Queen Jennah outfit was amazing.

[Excursion.9752]

I'll be excited if there is a bunch of new things added. If not then I probably rush through the easy achievements and then come back next year.

[Tarlonniel.6534]

Looking forward to it. I skipped it last year since festivals in this game seemed kind of meh, but I regretted the decision afterwards. I at least want to visit the map and play tourist!

[Kaliwenda.3428]

This was my first festival last year, I came back to the game shortly before it started. I had a lot of fun even though I didn't realize how the Zephyrites fit into the story. I'm looking forward to getting back to it next week. :)

[keenedge.9675]

@"cptaylor.2670" said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Calvsie.3675 said:Maybe the secret of the brown cow will finally be revealed!

Yeah that cow.... had me pretty confused as to what and why as well.

Wasn’t the cow eluding to Kralk and the fact that he was displacing things and creating rifts?

There is a strange cow in Jahai too, I believe it was up high along an eastern cliff near the palace.

[Randulf.7614]

@keenedge.9675 said:

@"cptaylor.2670" said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@"Calvsie.3675" said:Maybe the secret of the brown cow will finally be revealed!

Yeah that cow.... had me pretty confused as to what and why as well.

Wasn’t the cow eluding to Kralk and the fact that he was displacing things and creating rifts?

There is a strange cow in Jahai too, I believe it was up high along an eastern cliff near the palace.

Prob just Magical Trevor up to his tricks again

[Bast.7253]

Or the charr in the ascalon zone upgraded his treb.

[Ashantara.8731]

@"cptaylor.2670" said:Or the charr in the ascalon zone upgraded his treb.

LOL! That would have to be one hell of a trebuchet. :p

[Calvsie.3675]

@keenedge.9675 said:

@"cptaylor.2670" said:

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Calvsie.3675 said:Maybe the secret of the brown cow will finally be revealed!

Yeah that cow.... had me pretty confused as to what and why as well.

Wasn’t the cow eluding to Kralk and the fact that he was displacing things and creating rifts?

There is a strange cow in Jahai too, I believe it was up high along an eastern cliff near the palace.

I recently did come across that as well.