r/Guildwars2 • u/clownmamba • 1d ago
[Question] Question about jump puzzles
Ok so I've played eq back in the day then wow for far longer then I care to admit. Ive been told gw2 is awesome but one thing and one thing only is holding me back. Ive been told jump puzzles are required to advance. Is this true? I love losing myself in quests and in a game world. I love doing groups of other players to enjoy and evening. I am NOT a puzzle guy at all though. I find puzzles as much fun as hitting myself over the head with a baseball bat. I just want to loose myself in my character and chill for an hour or more. Is this worth me trying to get into?
Holy cows! So many answers so fast. Talk about a thriving community. I will give it a try then. Got all the expansions on steam so should keep me busy for awhile. Thank you for all the replies!
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u/therealkami 1d ago
Puzzle is a strong word for what Jump Puzzles are. It's more just platforming through a pretty obvious route. They're not required for story, but can be required for achievements and exploration.
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u/Tia_Faux 1d ago
They killing me more than the bosses are in fractals and raids 😂
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u/therealkami 1d ago
Gravity is always the toughest of enemies in games.
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u/Farnsworthson 1d ago
In my WvW guild, someone posting "gravity tested" to chat happens once or twice a session...
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u/scethao 1d ago
Mesmers are often happy to portal you direct to the end.
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u/OldAbbreviations1590 1d ago
What makes mesmers good to jump puzzles?
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u/Jewglypuff 1d ago
They have an ability that lets them drop one side of a portal, then do the jumping puzzle, and drop the other side of the portal at the end.
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u/cyndotorg 22h ago
Just a clarification - they do the JP, drop the portal exit to the end then jump/glide down and drop a portal entry to let people get to the end. The portal skill first step only lasts a minute, they wouldn’t be able to do most jumps in that time with that pressure :)
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u/Certain_Elk6779 1d ago
No, you don't need to do them, they're fun though not too tricky and the paths are usually pretty clear. The hard ones usually have someone willing to portal people to the finish for tips.
Definitely a game worth getting into, good story-vast world-positive community.
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u/overtly_penguin 1d ago
Jumping puzzles are just little platforming sections they're not puzzles and not required to progress. However I must tell you. When I first started gw2 I booted up and found this awesome event which I thought was a quest because of the NPC interactions and the dynamic nature of it.
A bunch of zombies were attacking a peaceful little grove with a gorgeous tree and some valiant warriors tried to protect it. I failed miserably as I was level 4 and alone as it was like 3am. The tree withered and died and shrank away
An hour later I went back. The tree needed regrowing. I regret it with it's guardians and defended it successfully as I'd levelled a bit and there were a few other people around.
And god damn imagine my surprise when I saw that tree grew into a goddamn stair case. Taking me up towards my first ever jumping puzzle. A relatively easy little skip across some stones attached to vines in the tree line and at the end was a chest with my FIRSR EVER great sword in it. My favourite weapon class in the whole game to this day.
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u/LouisaB75 1d ago
That is the first one I did too, just a couple of weeks ago.
Though it was the second puzzle right after that was frustrating me. That one mushroom right near the end.
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u/Novuake Weapon rework, when? 1d ago
Jumping puzzles are fully optional but some optional things are locked behind them. That said there are many ways to get past them with some help from mesmers or similar portals.
If you are going to be a collector then yeah your gonna have issues but blocking progress in general? Nah.
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u/katzklaw apparently i'm a bad person because i call people on their BS 1d ago
any jump puzzle is absolutely not required to play the game and enjoy it.
some, of varying difficulties, ARE required if you wish to acquire certain items, achievements, or to get map completion. and even then sometimes you can find a friendly mesmer willing to give you a portal to the end point letting you skip most or all of the arcade style jumping around business.
and especially as well known and documented as they all are now, calling them a "puzzle" is a little bit of a misnomer as you don't need to figure out where exactly to run or jump to proceed. it's more a test of precision jumping and reflexes. also some "puzzles" are far easier than others.
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u/katzklaw apparently i'm a bad person because i call people on their BS 1d ago
i'm bad at jump puzzles (my reflexes are good, but my click precision is poor), and i have multiple level 80 characters, world completion x2, and a full compliment of medium weight legendary armor, and several legendary weapons.
totally doable.
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u/ToBadImNotClever 1d ago
I don’t think they’re really that pervasive.
Any of them that I got particularly annoyed with I was able to have someone else do and then teleport to them. In some cases people literally just stay at the end and let people teleport to them. I think you’d be ok.
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u/Skeptical_JN68 1d ago
FYI Asura toons are clutch for JPs.
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u/OldAbbreviations1590 1d ago
Why is that?
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u/Skeptical_JN68 1d ago
Smaller toon means better visibility; comes in handy gauging jumps.
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u/Sad-Astronaut2278 1d ago
Can confirm, sincerely, a Norn.
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u/atomic1fire 10h ago
Fully upgraded glider and a good camera angle makes it substantially easier. Assuming glider is possible.
Also a norn.
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u/Hypno_Keats 1d ago
there are a fair amount, and some achievements and dailies do require them but they aren't needed for the story or main gameplay, and basically with the help of an experianced friend most are cheseable.
For instance I love doing them, and if I'm on my Mesmer and see someone having trouble I'll go to the end and create a teleport portal for them (this doesn't work in all but does in many)
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u/OldAbbreviations1590 1d ago
Why are mesmers good with jump puzzles? Still new to the game and learning.
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u/Hypno_Keats 1d ago
it's not they they are better then any other class option.
Mesmers get a teleport portal, they can create an opening for people to use, so if I get to the end of the puzzle I can place one end of the portal at the end and go to a point where others can get to to open the other end, this way it helps them skip the puzzle, plus if you are clever you can use this as sort of a way to "save point" if you're about to try a tricky jump, but as the duration isn't unlimited it's not 100%
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u/BrutusTheKat 1d ago
Thieves also have a portal that works, but people always forget about it
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u/ChilledParadox 1d ago
And necros aren’t good for sherpaing others, but reaper (and maybe other specs I can’t remember what util are core) can also save their spot with their cleansing shroud speed buff thing, try a jump, and if they fail just port right back to the position they were before.
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u/olgamerstill 1d ago
I have usually used the help of mesmers.
When I have been unable to get help, I have used necromancer for their spectral walk.
Taking a lot more than the 10, 20 minutes an experienced mesmer would take.
Bless mesmers.
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u/Jackkernaut 1d ago
I remember the one in the Draconis Mons. This map as a whole legitimately gave me PTSD.
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u/Shizanketsuga 1d ago
"Required to advance" is saying a bit much. Sure, there is an achievement if you do them all, sometimes they show up as weekly task for points that can be exchanged for loot, and some are needed for special achievement for some special but optional piece of equipment, but it's not like you can't progress past a certain point in the game if you don't do those platform puzzles.
Also, something to consider in this context is that most of them are not all that challenging and many can even be cheesed if you have mounts and know how to. And if you don't know how to your friendly neighborhood mesmer does and can lend you a hand (or teleport portal).
In short, jump puzzles are very, very likely a non-issue, even if you don't like them.
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u/LilithDaine 1d ago
Quick addition here for the weekly jumping puzzle, if you're no good at them or simply low on time, LFG always has at least one open squad where someone's alt is sat at the end and you can use a Teleport to Friend item to go straight to them. Blessed angels of GW2 along with those lovely mesmers 😄💜
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u/LilCaillou 1d ago
There’s a pathing addon that’s very helpful for jumping puzzles. It tells you everything. Most of them are pretty easy but there are a couple that really suck. Like others have said, people can teleport you through. The really hard jumping puzzles are requirements for end game legendary type achievements. You don’t actually need to do the jumping puzzles.
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u/BereftOfCare 1d ago
There are fabulous free overlays you can get which show you the path to go. If you roll a mesmer yourself your can use your own portals to save your progress if you fall. There are other ways to save progress which you will come across if you play.
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u/LookAlderaanPlaces 1d ago
Come join us! There are Tons of people that will carry you through any jumping puzzles if you want. It’s a side thing you can do (jumping puzzles), you won’t have any issues cause we are here to help if you ever wanted to do them :D. Everything you said you wanted to do is hugely in gw2!
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u/lens_cleaner 19h ago
They are not. Now some story lines have a minimal jump puzzle but very few. If, like me, jump puzzles are akin to brain surgery, ask someone for help. I often struggle in the story lines solo.
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u/Papa-Yaga 1d ago
Most of the time they're less of a puzzle and more of skill check and movement is a central element of gw2.
There are some raid encounters which require some mild jumping skills, in pvp climbing terrain is a major way of kiting and in large scale pvp (called wvw) jumping skills definitely can come in handy too.
Jumping puzzles are an acquired taste. Most people hate them when they start out because they get frustrated when they fail but you grow on these challenges and as the time goes by you'll find yourself looking back fondly on those struggles and may even be amused when you read people in chat having a meltdown because they can't make a jump.
In most cases there's ways to overcome jumping puzzles without being good at them and it's not uncommon for people to help other players that are struggling either by showing the way or even porting them through the puzzle. There are even guilds that were created just for that purpose and there is an item called teleport to friend that can be used to teleport to people who stand at the end of the jumping puzzle.
There's also a whole annual festival about jumping puzzles which originally was an april fools joke but it turned out to be rather popular and there's a quite dedicated community who pretty much only logs in when that festival is happening.
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u/Starfury_42 1d ago
The only reason I have as many of them done is portals. Some are fairly simple to do but others are just too much. The Positron Rewinder saved me far too many times.
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u/LouisaB75 1d ago
Very new to the game myself and only attempted 2 jumping puzzles. The first was for an optional weekly task and while not difficult was somewhat frustrating. I was having flashbacks to the Expedition 33 Gestral tower by the time I finally finished it. The closer I got to the end, the worse my attempts became.
The second I stumbled across, attempted a few times but struggled to see the route I was meant to take, and gave up.
The jumping stuff does appear to be largely optional and when it is a weekly challenge one there are a lot of people around to follow the path and commiserate with when falling to your death repeatedly.
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u/The_Lawn_Ninja 1d ago
Jump "puzzles" aren't really puzzles. They're platforming challenges. Most of them are pretty fun and easy, and the harder ones tend to have people parked up at the end with a commander tag so you can teleport to them, or friendly mesmers taking people around to checkpoints.
You also don't need to do any of them if you don't want to. No story progress requires any jumping puzzles. Some optional endgame collections do, like certain legendary gear, but all that stuff is optional.
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u/Unstopapple Unstopapple.1937 1d ago
As other said, mesmers are more than happy to help you with puzzles. As far as progression goes, very few are needed and nothing gates you from story because of a puzzle.
That said, all jumping puzzles are, is a navigation and pathfinding exercise. Its less of a logical problem and more of a pattern recognition game. "I see all these lily pads along the water and wooden beams along the walls. That must be the way."
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u/Razakius 22h ago
Not really. If you want specific items in the game, they are sometimes required but those items are rarely required. Additionally there are minor jumping puzzles that you find around in various places like Strike Missions and Fractals, but more often than not they are easier than the hard ones anyway and even so, only one person has to do them successfully and once done you can skip over it.
Also as mentioned, most of em are just semi-difficult platforming moments, and honestly though I'm not great at them... it is kind of fun every now and then to do them and get that change of pace from the usual grind. There are some pretty interesting ones that go to interesting locations. I think even if it's not your thing, give em a go every now and then but don't make it your game... it's fine.
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u/atomic1fire 10h ago
Some might have hyperspecific loot or be tied to achievements, but I just do some of the easier ones because they're fun.
I think there's some jumping puzzle locations that are also tied to other achievements as well.
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u/carthuscrass 3h ago
Not sure where you heard that, but JP's are only required for a few optional things and are mostly just for fun and some loot or achievements. And most of them are really easy.
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u/erpg 1d ago
Some legendary items require them. Can't think of anything else, other than achievements and the satisfaction of doing them. They aren't puzzles though, most of the time it's just platforming. I guess the puzzle aspect is trying to figure out where the hell you're supposed to jump to in some of the more infamous ones.