Venting about timers in Lake Doric

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

3 hours ago, Vayne.8563 said:

Not really sure how that would help. 

Not sure why you are answering.  If anyone knows about the API and event timers, it's those who use them in the Wiki. 

Edited July 27, 2021 by Inculpatus cedo.9234
typo

[Naxos.2503]

Isn't Season of Dragons proven to be retroactively taking into account the past Bonus events anyway ? I did an episode 1 week late, and it still counted. If so, that'd mean everyone is free to do those achievements whenever they feel like, which I think was the point of those releases

[Trejgon.9367]

5 minutes ago, Naxos.2503 said:

Isn't Season of Dragons proven to be retroactively taking into account the past Bonus events anyway ? I did an episode 1 week late, and it still counted. If so, that'd mean everyone is free to do those achievements whenever they feel like, which I think was the point of those releases

 

Either you mean something else, or that's not what retroactively means.

 

You are free to continue earning achievements from each section after it's week passes, but if you , let's say killed immelhoof before return to lake doric popped up, you would need to kill him again for completion.

 

Btw after featured episode weeks ends those achievements are moved from bonus events into side stories.

[Rasimir.6239]

14 minutes ago, Naxos.2503 said:

Isn't Season of Dragons proven to be retroactively taking into account the past Bonus events anyway ? I did an episode 1 week late, and it still counted. If so, that'd mean everyone is free to do those achievements whenever they feel like, which I think was the point of those releases

The op has since clarrified that he wasn't even going for any of the new achievements (none of those require specific events beyond the high sage anyway), but rather was trying to do some of the old season 3 achievements on several alt accounts within the space of this week.

 

I'm not quite sure how to interpret the Lake Doric section on the event timer, since it doesn't seem to pinpoint specific events, but rather "during this timeframe activity is focussed on this section of the map". Unlike most of the other sections of the event timer, this one seems to be more of a general reminder than a fixed time window in which certain event chains start and proceed.

 

If you try to brute-force (or grind?) a specific achievement on several accounts in a rather short time window, I can easily see how such imprecise "timers" can lead to frustration, but I'm not sure that putting stuff on a precise timer is the best (much less only) way to deal with this.

 

My suggestion to the op would be to basically ignore the timers (since they are not precise enough to rely on them for any specific event out of those associated with the meta) and treat the events like any other event-driven map (e.g. Silverwastes legends). Only go after those achievements whenever you have enough other fun/interesting activities to keep you busy on the map (harvesting, events, map-completing on a new character, ...) and hope to stumble upon the event sooner rather than later.

[Vayne.8563]

1 hour ago, Naxos.2503 said:

Isn't Season of Dragons proven to be retroactively taking into account the past Bonus events anyway ? I did an episode 1 week late, and it still counted. If so, that'd mean everyone is free to do those achievements whenever they feel like, which I think was the point of those releases

So it's okay to sit around for hours and not get the event to pop that you need popped, because I can always get it later. What about the two hours I stood there/ran around for doing stuff I really didn't need, just waiting for one specific event to pop, which popped off timer or didn't pop on timer at least.  And what about next time? How many people do you think with a specific goal, will stand around for that event, and waste a couple of hours at a time.

The point isn't that I can get them tomorrow. The point is I could have and should have had them today and felt like I wasted time waiting for something.  Not sure why it would be different tomorrow. If the same thing happens that next day, because the timer is off, or I keep missing it will it make me less frustrated?  Should I keep going back to that one spot and standing there, hoping against hope that this time will be different? 

 

I'm not even sure I understand the intention of the comment.  I wasted my time one night so I should waste time other nights too?

[Vayne.8563]

50 minutes ago, Rasimir.6239 said:

The op has since clarrified that he wasn't even going for any of the new achievements (none of those require specific events beyond the high sage anyway), but rather was trying to do some of the old season 3 achievements on several alt accounts within the space of this week.

 

I'm not quite sure how to interpret the Lake Doric section on the event timer, since it doesn't seem to pinpoint specific events, but rather "during this timeframe activity is focussed on this section of the map". Unlike most of the other sections of the event timer, this one seems to be more of a general reminder than a fixed time window in which certain event chains start and proceed.

 

If you try to brute-force (or grind?) a specific achievement on several accounts in a rather short time window, I can easily see how such imprecise "timers" can lead to frustration, but I'm not sure that putting stuff on a precise timer is the best (much less only) way to deal with this.

 

My suggestion to the op would be to basically ignore the timers (since they are not precise enough to rely on them for any specific event out of those associated with the meta) and treat the events like any other event-driven map (e.g. Silverwastes legends). Only go after those achievements whenever you have enough other fun/interesting activities to keep you busy on the map (harvesting, events, map-completing on a new character, ...) and hope to stumble upon the event sooner rather than later.

I rely on timers all the time in this game and for the most part they're accurate. This zone has some weird anomalies, some of which are part of the way the zone is structured.

For example, if the white mantle own a particular city the take back the city event will come up.  Now my map was closing and I switched to a map where this event was going on just as I got into the map. But it doesn't happen at the timed event time, it happens whenever it happens.  Because I had to switch maps and because the maps have different timers, having to switch maps could kill me ability to get that event at the right time.

The solution would be to spawn the attack event at the right time anyway, even if the city was recently taken.  And that does happen at Saidra's Haven, so I thought it would likely happen at every city, it's the same meta after all. But it doesn't. At Saidra's Haven if the taking back the city event takes place, the attack will still take place on time. Apparently that doesn't happen at harvest cascade.  But of course, this inconsistency also makes it harder to play the zone.  Because you just have to either get lucky, play a lot more hours than most people have to stand there, or keep coming back.  It's simply not the best solution.

 

I'm not as mad today as I was last night when it happened...but when I came back today and try to get it, Immelhoof spawned early before the attack on the city and I almost missed it again.  It doesn't help; that the boss dies in 60 seconds or so.  I don't necessarily think that there's an easy solution but in a game where timers really are designed into the game itself, those timers probably need to be accurate or how they work at least needs to be clear.

[Farohna.6247]

I understand your intentions and what you're trying to accomplish, but you're setting yourself up for defeat and frustration.  This is not a timer like a world boss.  To set a clock to it would be maddening.  It's designed to hang around on the map, catch events as they pop up, and hang out in areas if you need something specific.  Everything dies fast.  It can be done with minimum aggregation by most people, but since you're attempting to do it on multiple accounts, it's not really feasible for the short term.  Other than a few bugs, the map works fine for a normal, casual player with limited time...I feel like you're goals are beyond that.

[Vayne.8563]

2 hours ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Not sure why you are answering.  If anyone knows about the API and event timers, it's those who use them in the Wiki. 

I answered because you didn't quote anyone. I had no idea who you were responding to, tbh.

[Khisanth.2948]

14 hours ago, Vayne.8563 said:

The api offers, to my knowledge anyway, a schedule of timed world bosses. The timer site uses the API to read those times. The API dont' offer a timer itself just a schedule that can be read by fan made timers. If I'm wrong about that I'd be happy to eat it, but I'm pretty sure that's the case. 

 

World bosses appear at a specific time and that information is in the API.  

Since you referring to the stuff like the ET page on the wiki(judging from later posts), unfortunately that isn't provided by the API. It is mostly not even official. Mostly not official because some of it is official. When they converted world bosses to have a fixed schedule they did include the schedule in the patch. I believe there was one other change to that schedule later on which was also in patch notes but that is all. Anything covered by Maguuma Pact Operation Portal Device and World Boss Portal Device could also be considered official. The rest is what players discovered.

 

The respawn timers in Lake Doric seems a bit different. I was waiting for the sage yesterday and the commander gave an estimated respawn time based on previous kill but the sage ended up spawning about 30 minutes "early".  Apparently it does spawn at a consistent interval in other instances.

[Cuks.8241]

On 7/26/2021 at 3:15 PM, Vayne.8563 said:

The timers are provided by the API which is provided by Anet.  Sites use the API to make timer sites. If the times weren't in the API, you'd be right, but they are.

I am still unsure you can pull timers out through API but even if you can, the timer for Lake Doric says nothing about Immelhoof. It is only when the Noran's events start. There is no reliable info either at what point of Noran's Homestead event chain Immelhoof should spawn. 

[Vayne.8563]

10 minutes ago, Cuks.8241 said:

I am still unsure you can pull timers out through API but even if you can, the timer for Lake Doric says nothing about Immelhoof. It is only when the Noran's events start. There is no reliable info either at what point of Noran's Homestead event chain Immelhoof should spawn. 

Right but like today it started BEFORE the Noran event started.   

[Dante.1763]

13 minutes ago, Vayne.8563 said:

Right but like today it started BEFORE the Noran event started.   

It sounds like this is less about timing, and the event not triggering properly. If "X"events are required to trigger it, and its spawning before the events are done, or not at all after they are done, the triggers are off, not the timing

[Naxos.2503]

1 hour ago, Dante.1763 said:

It sounds like this is less about timing, and the event not triggering properly. If "X"events are required to trigger it, and its spawning before the events are done, or not at all after they are done, the triggers are off, not the timing

Agreed. There have been plenty of issues with event spawns on that map last week alone. Whether the timers are responsible or not is up for debate, since these are not fixed timers, but event Success/Faillure scripts.

 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

6 hours ago, Vayne.8563 said:

I answered because you didn't quote anyone. I had no idea who you were responding to, tbh.

Not always about you, Vayne.  My apologies. 

[Vayne.8563]

10 hours ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Not always about you, Vayne.  My apologies. 

My bad. I had always thought that if you reply without quoting someone you're replying to the OP.  That's how it was when I learned online etiquette anyway.  Shrugs.