Ascension Quest

Thought I'd start a thread just for Ascension Quest queries & issues & feedback, so it doesn't get bogged down in the New Badge Additions thread.

This is really elaborate and a lot of fun. I can see this is going to take me a couple of years. This must have taken you months to compose, Wesley!!!

One question I have is that I thought we could go back and forth on paths, so I was checking out all the alternatives, but then I got stuck in one that I really didn't want to do. So I'm a little confused about that because I was really left with the impression that we could go down different paths and go back if we choose.

Grace, in many cases, you can go back and forth freely, but not necessarily always. Some decisions just can't be undone.

This is true. I made a bad decision yesterday and am still feeling the pain. I suspect this will not be the only time that this happens on the journey.

If it's any consolation to you, you were not the only one. This particular bad decision is a very popular one with 33 players having taken it.

I thought it was crowded in this black hole!

Is it the same dark pit I'm in? I almost reached the light switch earlier but then the power went off.

This latest pair of lucky pants aren't working either. There must be a manufacturing fault.

Well, I'M certainly stuck and may be in this place until The Rapture. I regret that I EVER went for that Who am I? Monthly Badge ......... Headache .. Headache .. OWWWWW! .. Headache!

Oh, was that you Flopsy? I thought it was rats running around, but it was only a friendly rabbit.

For the 20,000 points task, it might be nice to have a note that the change of the day is at 11:50 for this task's purposes, not midnight.

Just got myself reset at 19789 due to this.

I think I must be in the same place.

Someone could make a killing with selling underarm stuff in here

Shorthumbz, I feel your pain! Darn getting that Who Am I monthly badge! I think I will be stuck here forever. Haven't got that high of a score since I got the badge.

You may find the wait to be shorter than expected - did I mention targets tend to erode the longer you work on them?

I'm currently sticking pins into a catlike effigy, having fallen into yet another carefully laid trap.

Trying to find all of them, eh?

Well, thank the Trvia Gods for some small mercy. Still, it makes me feel not-quite-top-drawer not to get it on the first go.

It seems that way, Wes. My eagerness to progress has been overcoming my common sense so far. I must learn to stop and THINK, before making my choices.

I'm in a loop. Or is it a spiral? Did one task yesterday, get to the next task. Do that, then one option takes me back to the task I already did. If the second option doesn't work, there may be bloodshed. And given that I am more like the Rabbit of Caerbannog than that fluffy pink thing in my avatar, it won't be my blood!

Flopsy, I can't reproduce your message from your position and the game code. There should be no option that sends you backwards unless you actually used a "Go back" link on a portion you had already completed. Can you send me a PM with what you did?

I'm keeping a tally at my number of failed attempts at getting past Obscurity - up to 25 (and still counting) ... can anyone beat that?

I'm only up to about 10, but expect it to grow. My first try only missed by 11 seconds, later attempts have been significantly worse. It's nice here in the Library, though.

Luckily I got it second go

Wish I had not now

Sent you a note, Wes. Hope it makes sense.

I've heard rumors that I should enjoy my time here, as it only gets worse.

Enjoy it while you can

Ignorance is bliss

You're frightening me, folks.

This game is forcing me to reflect upon my poor scores in certain dailies I really don't like. It's unfortunate, but necessary.

Hang in there! I just went to my history and counted it. Got it on my 27th try.

Am I the only one still stuck in the prologue from the first day? I feel so stupid.

You're not the only one, gm. We may catch up later - or limp across the finish line months after the first group.

Current standings have three players in chapter 3, nine in chapter 2 and 28 in chapter 1. Everyone from 41st place onward is still in the prologue - so no one should worry about being behind. The road to Ascension is a long one!

Still stuck on Obscurity. I've never made that sort of score on this game in my life. Still, the library is more comfortable than the nasty dark place.

Thanks so much for the update!

Hang in there everybody: Wes is truly a benevolent Trivia God and as Greta Olesson (played by Ingrid Bergman) says in "Murder on the Orient Express," "All is for the best" !!!!

Terry --

Instead of having Wes give manual updates, how about a page where you could see the chapter progress of all the players on the Quest? We can already manually reconstruct this info by going to the list of players who have the Questian badgelet and then clicking on each profile.

I've decided to save a lot of bother and have strapped a mattress to my back for the obvious waits that are going to occur. Despite looking like an overfed turtle, I feel sure this accessory will pay dividends in the future.

Sounds like a good idea, I think I may well copy that. I shall equip myself with a flask of coffee, chocolate and a bottle or two of wine as well. Might as well make the waits comfy.

I'm still in the Prologue, too. I think I'll never get out.

I have an idea. How about creating a link to a page with those stats? People can check on that and see how everyone is doing overall. I don't mean detailed stats, just what you said -- how many are in this or that chapter.

I am taking this from my game admin page by manually counting - nothing I could post. Terry would have to create a public summary of it.

Careful of that wine, Chris. (You may discover why later.)

Even with the gods being so kind as to lower the expectation, I'm not getting the questions I know the answers to!

Thanks Dagny1! Perhaps your encouragment helped. I got through on the 28th attempt :-) Finally a set with lots of 'what is the middle name of?' and 'when was x born?' rather than 'which of the following very obscure lyrics is NOT in this very obscure song?'.

Onwards to what seems to be another headache according to some of the posts a little earlier...

So glad you made it through the Swamp of Obscurity Mike. I hate seeing a grown man cry.

Thanks Barbarini - the upside is that I'm now 3rd in the Obscurity monthly standings :-)

So you heard my blubbering then? I thought it was confined to a 10km radius.

Your wife rang me, Mike. Asked if I knew where she could find a used straight-jacket.

I am assuming having looked through what I can the Unicorn and Dragon mini's are an either or like "The Great Race" Frog or Fish??????????????

Thanks for your support; I shall always wear it, even if it does chafe a little.

At last I've avoided Wes's snares and made my way out of the Prologue. I'm becoming paranoid, though, reading every instruction a dozen times to see if I can detect any horrid hidden meaning.

Surdoux, may I suggest Vaseline?

I print every screen. By the time I have finished, I should have the makings of a decent-sized novel.

I have a seriously annoying problem to deal with.

I arrived at a particular place where I was told to score 1400 in the Pot of Gold game. So I did (AFTER I arrived at the place, as instructed). I scored 1818, well over the required amount. However, it still says I haven't done it. I'm afraid to leave this place to try a different task, lest I have to do it AGAIN. Can someone fix this?

I got past obscure/impossible by sheer slogwork but now can't get the score on Heroes that I need - missed it by 1 yesterday and today (US government?? I'm British for goodness sake so think scoring 12/15 is pretty good!).

daBomb - my mistake. I had the wrong game number in there.

Completing the stage will not send you anywhere special, just give you some important information. If you can see it now, it's all good, otherwise check your forum PM - I've pasted the completion text to you there.

Thank you, Wes! You're a lifesaver!

One can proofread code for almost a month and run automated tests as much as one wants - there will always be one that slips through. Thanks for the report

Last night I got to a point where I needed to play a specific daily game and get a certain score. I had played the game earlier in the day and reached that score, but it didn't count because when I played it I hadn't yet reached the page in Ascension asking for it. So this morning I went back, played the game, exceeded the score and moved on. Two steps later I was at a point where the first choice said to play the same game and get a certain score (which I had exceeded when playing earlier). But it didn't count because I had already played. So I had a choice of waiting until tomorrow or trying one of the other options. I chose another option, which had a different daily, but didn't meet the required score.

Two questions:
1) Did you mean to have the same game required so close together? (I understand about not playing anything before you have to because it might come up in AQ, but in this case I had already played it because it came up in AQ.)
2) Since I didn't meet the score in the second choice and will have to try again tomorrow, am I locked into that choice? Or would I be able to switch back to the first choice tomorrow?

Wes, if this doesn't make sense let me know and I will be more specific in a personal message.

Julia:

1) In this case I meant it to be that way. This three-game gauntlet is meant to be solvable either by specializing in one particular game or by doing different things. The latter option is faster (since you don't have to wait for a reset), but may be more difficult for some.

2) If you have a link that allows you to try something else, you can freely do so even after making an attempt at a game. If not, you're locked in.

Wesley, please check your inbox. I PMed you about another problem I'm having on my quest.

Something is odd. I seem to be penalized for having a certain badge. Also, every choice I have made has forced me to turn back. It doesn't make any sense.

I don't see how anything near your current position in the game could produce anything like what you've described. Care to enlighten me in a PM?

After the first week of the game, the latest stats are:

1 player in chapter 5
none in chapter 4
6 in chapter 3
25 in chapter 2
49 in chapter 1
271+ in the prologue (I only counted those who have progressed beyond the prerequisite level check).

Hi Wes,

Great job on this, really enjoying it. I've sent you a PM (on FT not on the forums) about something in Chapter 3. Thanks!

Wes, are these stats, or some sort of progress numbers, available to we mere mortals?

Ozzz, currently only when I post them. I'm taking them off the game admin page.

I can beat that: I took 29 tries on Who's the Smartest, and then almost immediately sent myself back to the beginning of the Task. After two days, I still haven't even gotten back to that point. Going through the second time is just like the first, only with a constant feeling of bitter regret over a single disastrously poor decision.

Now that really is sneaky, Wes. You wouldn't like to share what the mistake was, Tiddy? No, of course you can't, but I made some poor choices right at the start and dread doing the same again now that I've managed to make some decent progress.

I think I made the same mistake, gone back to the start as well

Maybe it's not a "mistake", maybe we are learning as we are supposed to. "Sitting quietly doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself." If anyone needs me I'll be in the padded cell.

I'm stuck with a horribly high target in one of my least favourite games. I may be here some time. It's lonely as I appear to be in solitary confinement.

I'm scared about what Tiddy did now, as we're both hanging out in the same place.

The link Tiddly is referring to is for when you have made a really bad error in your strategy and want to do things in a different order (remember that later = harder!). Clicking it when you don't actually want to change strategies won't help you.

I'd also recommend to wait at least a day before abandoning and re-choosing at any stage of the game - that way you can check to see just how fast things do get easier with time.

I'm sure that Wesley must have been a member of the Spanish Inquisition in a previous existence. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

What Wes said ... We know he should know because he's the Guardian ... I know he's right from my recent experience ... Remember this about patience: “Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength” Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

Wes,

I seem to be going in a circle. I cut off the second head of the hydra and moved on.

I completed other things and now I am back to the second head that I already cut off.

Is this a bug or am I missing something?

Thanks.

Take care and God Bless.

Steve

Steve, I can't reproduce where you have been, only where you are right now - and that's indeed the second head.

Are "other things" things you did in the game or are they other things on FT?

That was what happened the first time. This one happened at the end of the next task after I had completed all of the difficult parts.

I'm definitely hoping for an easier target tomorrow. I have absolutely no chance of meeting the one set at present. I may have to wait for a week!

Oh I see... hopefully you now know what to do when you get back to that point.

Im not a big fan of a scoreboard, because it really is a play-at-your-own-pace game.

It really isn't supposed to be a race, and no one is supposed to "win" be getting to the end first. Perhaps adding a "hall of fame" for players who make it to the end would be a nice touch though.

Terry, it sure is nice to see who's made it to what level. Purely for the camaradarie of it. Nice to be able to cheer our teammates on at least. Not much different than checking profiles to see who's won flags on the daily challenges. Perhaps you'll rethink it?
Thank you Terry!

Wes,

I am sorry I was not clear my bad. I meant by "other things" that I followed other instructions given by the game such as qualifying score in the hard game and the word wizard.

Then the game sent me right back to the second head that I already cut off by scoring high enough in the "who am I"

I was at that area for three days before and my qualifying score was lowered twice before I was able to meet it finally. Now it is than ever and I have no chance of making it. Thanks.

Take care and God Bless.

Steve

I like the play-at-your-own-pace policy on the scoreboard issue. Very much. And agree. It's a difficult game and it's easy to feel a bit stupid if you feel other people are racing ahead of you, in my case anyway.

What was nice, though, was an unnamed list of the numbers in each section - it cheered me up and made me feel I wasn't stupid, just normal.

For debug wes the logs show kickaha's path:

242 - 243 - 225 - 209 - 220 - 221 - 222 - 223 - 234 - 209 - 240 - 241

Thank you for that great quote.

No bug there - from this list of stages, he used the retreat option twice. 209 is the retreat. He played the first three heads, then got to Madness 4th, retreat. Start again down a different path, get to Gap 4th, retreat again.

Steve, if you want to, I can put you back on either of the 4th options (Madness or Gap) although I would recommend Madness since that was the one on which you already played the score currently causing you problems.

Wes,

Thanks! Do whatever you think is best. I just thought I should not have to repeat the second head.

Is it best to never retreat since that is what seems to have caused my problem?

Thanks again for your help!

Take care and God Bless.

Steve

Steve, you're back at where you were before your first retreat. Retreating in this fight should only be done if you want to do it all over with a different order of heads.

You may have made a decision earlier that caused you to miss the information about how those heads work. (Going the harder way on one step will often give you valuable hints for later!)

Wes, it seems like many of us are repeating the sections because of choices made. Do you really want to be manually resetting everyone? Isn't that just a part of the challenge? I waited more than two days to get a Madness score and will now have to do it again. But, it was because I made a bad choice. I can live with that.

Bubbles, it seems that a huge lot of players are really struggling with the concept of the retreat. I'm really trying to figure out how to word that one better so it won't consistently be an issue. It's supposed to be a strategic option offered to allow players to fix mistakes, not to cause them. (If you have the same problem, I'll gladly put you back to your original place as well)

Sounds like you could say it just like you basically just did. Warning, a retreat could cause the loss of previously surmounted tasks, or something like that.

New FAQ entry:

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I retreated and now I'm back to where I started - what's up?

Retreating is an option offered in some fights which will inevitably set you back to the very beginning of that fight even if it consists of multiple stages. This has the advantage that you can reconsider your play strategy and approach the fight entirely differently. Do it only if you feel you cannot win with your current strategy and want to start over!

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Is that clear to everyone now?

That looks great. And reading that definitely would have changed my retreat decision, lol.

The problem was that a lot of people didn't realize just how far back a retreat would/could go and that can be rather frustrating. (Which I don't really want - the game should be challenging but fun. We want players to fight quizzes and scores, not misunderstandings).

Ok, then I change my previous thoughts. Will you put me back, please?

PM me where you were (with as much info as you remember so I can verify your claim) - I don't have the data ready. Terry has just created a log facility, but it seems it only works forward from now.

Any others who need last minute pardons on an unintended retreat, please also PM me.

Wes,

Thanks very much! I have learned my lesson and will NOT retreat in the future.

Take care and God Bless.

Steve

May I suggest that people be careful what they say. People who aren't in the Ascension Quest are reading this and they are getting insights and hints to the game that maybe they shouldn't have. After all, it is a game, and people are supposed to find out about these things for themselves.

The early players are working out the kinks. This thread is enormously helpful. We WANT it to help future players.

Grace - if anything gets too spoilerish, it'll be edited out. In this case, there was no information leaked except that going back at a specific point could be devastating - and that NEEDS to be out there since about a third of players fell to a frustrating trap I never intended to be one.

Thanks Wes, back to where I was and will be here for a while, so will get a brew on for everyone else that arrives and stays

The tip is simply if you don't want to see spoilers, don't come on the thread unless you have a question of your own to ask, I think.

Nothing on this thread so far was really a spoiler or I would have taken it out. Anyone who masters the prologue and knows anything about the underlying storyline and Funtrivia could deduce the posted facts.

Now if some stuff from the higher chapters were to leak out, THAT would be gone very quickly

I agree. I was just suggesting caution in our choice of words when we ask questions.

Wes,
What are the latest stats?

Also, I have a question about chapter 2. Obviously there is strategy in choosing which option, and yet there doesn't seem to be much basis for making a decision, at least based on the myth that this story is based on, and the stuff that has happened on the Quest up to this point, unless I am completely misunderstanding the instructions.

Not meant to be a spoiler, just not sure if I missed something, or what?

There is a way to find this information in-game if you take the right decisions. If you miss it, you're down to trial and error.

You by the way don't need to know the specific myth the game is based on in detail to play well (although it can increase your enjoyment of the story). Some basic knowledge of ancient Greek legends might however sometimes help.

Stats:

Chapter 6 - 1
Chapter 5 - 1
Chapter 4 - 1
Chapter 3 - 15
Chapter 2 - 37
Chapter 1 - 72
Prologue - 245+

I've got in such a muddle, I completely forget which game I was playing and adopted a strategy that was doomed to failure. There's always next time, I suppose!

Perhaps I made a wrong decision somewhere, then, because I am not sure on what basis I should be making a choice among the options.

In that case, you can only try your best guess.

Yesterday I played a game and didn't score high enough to progress to the next stage, so I didn't bother to check the Ascension page. This morning I go to the Ascension page to look at the new requirement and to my surprise I see that it says I can progress. I remember that a couple of days ago I scored high enough to meet yesterday's required score (but not high enough to meet the score that day). Maybe this is why the system let me go through despite not meeting the required score?

Not that I'm complaining .

I'm just curious if that is the way it was intended.

I just checked my Ascension page, and it hasn't changed one bit. I wish I knew your secret, AK!

Just hang in there; you may get relief in a day or two (which, I'm coming to believe is not too long to wait in this game). Then one day, long after it doesn't matter anymore, you'll play the game for fun and way exceed what you needed! Good luck ...

I scored so low the system took pity on me

Hmm where were you in the ascension quest? That shouldnt happen..

Oh wait, it could happen... for some games it looks at all of your scores SINCE you arrived at the stage. So yes, if you had been sitting there 4 days and the requirement dropped a bit, a score from 2 days ago that met the requirements would let you through.

Neat - so the cure for many players who missed a score by a hair will be just to wait a day...

That's a real bonus - I like it that way. No "If I only had played yesterday's score today..." frustration.

I have 2 questions:

1) Is it just dailies that have score reductions over time, or does this apply to other things as well (hourlies)?

2) Are there any particular score requirements that don't reduce at all?

1) Hourlies as well but they only reduce once per day.
2) Yes - when a requirement is clearly on the easy side or there are other options available, you will find requirements that do not drop.

I feel I accomplished a lot today in this Quest! This is fun!

A note to all those having problems with Who am I - several players have made me aware that the score targets of this game can be very difficult (more so than intended) for some players who have to play the Champs sets while they're adequate to easy for others playing easy mode.

I'm currently discussing with Terry on how to best change this game's scoring in AQ to give both Champs and non-Champs an equal chance at it. Until then, please have patience if you're an affected Champ - I have put a rather high daily target reduction into chapter 2 so that Champs should be able to pass this without too much of a delay.

Thanks Wes! That allowed me to move on after many days :-)

If I've been stuck at the same spot for two days and the target score hasn't changed, should I be worried? I'm very reluctant to backtrack and risk having to repeat everything I've already done!

I thought that Who Am I was going to be "fixed" long ago by not putting people in Champ divisions (with the increased difficulty) until they had accumulated all Who Am I badges (including the 50k one). Whatever happened to that?

Rossian, score changes are linear per day. If there's no reduction on the second day, there isn't one. (Hint: Take a look at the 4th entry in the FAQ...)

Eyhung: As far as I know, Champs still doesn't check the 50k, but even if it does, it still results in some players having a harder time than others since AQ will be played by WaI champs.

I just played a"Who's the Smartest" quiz on movies in roughly 30 seconds - but it said I took almost 3,000 seconds to do so.

Coulda gone to the movies in the interim

[24/May/2013:05:06:06 -0600] - creedy initiate play (clicked through from Smartest main page)

[24/May/2013:05:52:30 -0600] - creedy reload play page

[24/May/2013:05:53:21 -0600] - creedy submit play

There's your 3000 seconds!

Yes, WaI does not check the 50k. I think after accumulating 50000 points in the WaI game, you can be pretty fast even in the Champs set, because names repeat. I haven't gotten to 50000 though.

I see the pioneer has made huge strides in the game.

I was making strides but have been caught in a vortex - I just go round and round and I can't go anywhere without getting back to the same place. Someone throw me a lifebelt!

I would help you Flopsy, but I think throwing you a lifebelt from my own current vortex would defeat the purpose.

I'm not stuck for any technical reasons, just because I'm not a big fan of Greek myth...

How odd, Terry. I thought I only clicked on it once. Doesn't matter in the slightest though. I just thought the time score was hilarious.

Must have developed a split personality from too much playing. My smart side clicked on it once. My idiotic side had a second shot.

I think the killer game isn't Who Am I so much as GMM.

I thought the scores were done from averages of previous scores, the one I'm on now can't possibly be, and would like to know the last time anyone on the site got the score and time listed, surprised no one else on head 8 is still here waiting, or is there something I have missed

Oh I see now, why did I not see this before

Err...I didn't understand a word of that either, Pete

I understood it perfectly, though, having been in the same situation myself...

Pat you know I'm the only one I can have a sensible conversation with

(Heheheh)

Just a quick question from me and apologies if it's a spoiler - is there any route into the game that doesn't involve scoring a very large number of points in a day? Because if the answer is no then I can chalk this one down as a "not for me" challenge and move on to something else.

Honest answer, have not got a "Scooby Doo" I'm afraid

Snowman, scoring some substantial points per day is part of several tasks in the game. The one you're at is one of the higher ones - in fact, there's a path through that won't need to you play more than that (but the same number will show once more).

I am struggling with the same one, but I know that one day I will have time to dedicate myself to FT and be able to do that, and since this is a challenge to savor, I will do it whenever that day comes. Thanks for making these deliciously torturous exercises!

How many chapters are there in total?

Obviously at least 12

Oh? Who's on 12? I thought dabomb was the highest at 9.

I think he was referring to the 12 Labors...

But wait, there's more... - it would be optimistic to think we will be able to stop at the end of the 12 Labors.

Or, Wes could switch genres altogether midway through. How many Canterbury Tales were there? Dalmatians? Arabian Nights?

I'm still drowning in my vortex, I thought I got out but no such luck. I may have to re-read the Canterbury Tales while I'm in here. Anyone got a waterproof copy?

Oh, dear, I had only gotten as far as thinking of a baker's dozen. I may have to bequeath my challenges to my heirs

If you get the option to write a quiz, are the chosen topics different for everyone?

And if so, why pick on me with those?!

Only 12 challenges. That's disappointing

I was hoping for a lot more. These marathon challenges are great.

Getting those 25,000 points in one day strained the friendship a bit, lol. I did the first 8,000 before I went to bed and then had to play like crazy in three and a half hours for the rest because I was too lazy to get out of bed for ages the next morning.

They're easier to rack up than you anticipate. I played General or Children's. Avoiding Harry Potter of course. Both are quick and easy. It took longer with each game to allow me to scroll down and give it a rating than to play it. The PC slowed right down each time. But I played, roughly, 30-40 quizzes an hour.

If you did that and got 10 right each time (which I didn't because I was getting punch drunk) that's 150 points a game, and between 4,500-6,000 points an hour.

Wes didn't say 'only 12', just 'at least 12'. I've found myself in the vortex too, going around in ever decreasing circles. Do we get any additional help or hints if we're stuck here for days Wes?

Oic.

Ta.

On the page that awarded the Questian badge, it said this:

"Other players here:

No one

Searching for var replay to jump to..."

Just wondered if the last sentence was there by accident. If not, can anyone elucidate its meaning?

Thanks Wes

Unfortunately that counts me out of participating then. That target is way beyond my reach.

Is there any way that an alternative route can be provided, for example by accumulation of brains? Then those of us that cannot spend hours at a time on the site have something to aim for too.

I think Snowman has a point here. One or two other members of our team have indicated that they're not going to bother with the Quest because 20,000 in a day is too much, especially as it appears that some people might have to do it twice.

Wes - do you have any indication of how many people who are still in the Prologue have stalled at this point? If this starts to look like a real jam, then I wonder if the bar may have been set a bit high.

If you ask me, just getting 20,000 at all before going on would seem hard enough. If you wanted to make it a bit more difficult, how about 20,000 in a day or 40,000 in as long a period as you like?

Stedman, there is no code for that. I could provide an alternate requirement based on authoring - that's about the only other "endurance" task available in the backend as a single thing.

Or I could make one that uses some smaller requirement, say 7500, three times after each other (or another count for different scores). It would be slower to get through but the player would get there as well.

Which one would you guys prefer?

Anything has be easier than trying for 25,000 in a day... I'd given the game up because of that.

Having an alternative of scoring 7500 on three successive days would seem reasonable. I've already got past that stage and found it tiring and tedious, and don't fancy having to do it again. I might well be prepared to sacrifice the quick progress for a slower version.

Okay, I'll build a side path that will allow to do most of these requirements in 7500 steps at a certain surcharge. (There's three that won't get changed, but one is just over 10,000 and the other two are optional with other ways to solve)

Wesley, I'm faced with having to get 10000 points for the third time - I don't know why I ended up with that but anything which could reduce the number would be useful. Or in my case, a lifesaver. Otherwise I'm going to have to withdraw, doing it again is just not an option for me.

Flopsymopsy, you've seriously been missing something. I made a small change that will allow you (and others) to get out of where you are for now, but you need to pay more attention to where you are and where you go or repeating of stages you shouldn't need to repeat will most certainly happen to you again in the game.

Also, maybe is deserves repeating: This game is not a race. If you are facing a requirement multiple times because you took a wrong decision and don't want to do it again, take a break. No one forces you to do a point sprint three times in four days.

I'm open to discuss requirements that are too difficult for the first time when some players simply can't make it due to restrictions (e.g. they can't play too many hours per day due to health reasons) and provide adequate alternate paths for them. However, part of the game is to make decisions based on the storyline text and get them right. This will become more prominent the further you advance. If you are treating it just as a sequence of quizzes and game scores, you're not only missing half the fun, you'll also inevitably get yourself stuck and repeating stages.

Thanks Wes - I was just so relieved at getting past the stage I was at yesterday I got misled by the flowers. I would blame my hayfever, except I don't suffer from that.

Post #985992 is a great summary for this particular game.

IMO, I personally do not like the "change the rules as we go" concept. I am enjoying the game as it is, even though I have been stuck on the same challenge since May 24 13 3:50 PM. The preface states this game is not a race, and this game may not be for everyone. I think the Ascension Quest is just fine. Not everybody gets a trophy...

I partly agree and partly disagree with John's statement.

I think that changes are necessary, if something is too difficult for the average player...

However, I also believe that changing it simply to make it easier for players who don't want to do a particular task is not necessary.

This is meant to be difficult. I'm not saying I look forward to having to earn 20,000 points in a single day; the last time I did that I nearly died of exhaustion... However, if that's what it is set to, then it is how it has to be.

I would be in favor of a scale down each day, however; perhaps 1,000 each day. So if someone really does not feel like earning 25,000 points, and can only earn, say, 5,000, they have to wait 20 days to achieve that (a penalty, sure, but it still makes the task accessible to all even if simply through persistence).

I'd just add that it's a new game, and it has thrown up the odd problem which Wes could not have anticipated. It's not so much a case of making it easier, but of providing another way of reaching the same point. I got stuck early in the game, in the Prologue, by making a bad decision and ignoring the option to reverse it. I paid the appropriate penalty, but it has made me more cautious now before committing myself to any pathway.
I have tried to stop and smell the roses en route, and am enjoying the game more for not trying to rush through it.

I have considered that, but it would involve work that Terry would need to do and then I need to adapt the game anyway (besides, would you really want to allow someone to let this rest down to zero?)

My fix that I'm currently coding breaks down any large endurance task that doesn't have a non-endurance alternative into batches of 7,500 points - a number everyone should be able to reach with a bit of commitment. It's about 50 quizzes plus playing the dailies and hourlies a bit. There's a bit of interest to pay for this option in that you will need between 10 and 25 percent more total points than if you do it in one day, but since it seems only the most dedicated of players enjoy point runs of more than 10k or so per day, it looks like this will only improve the game. (I completely misjudged this from seeing the daily score tables and the scores people play when competing for the Endurance badge. At this point, I would have considered 20,000 a mild challenge for most level 100+ players and even the classic marathon of 42,195 something most would rather enjoy than hate if it only happens once.)

The original endurance tasks will of course remain available and any purists who wish to play through this aspect of Ascension Quest as originally written will be able to do so.

I'm just weighing in to say that I love the endurance ones. They are such fun to tackle and for people like me (retired and have time, but not a speedster), they're actually more doable than some of those once a day tasks. Not complaining about the Dailies at all, just saying, one shot and you're done for the day; at least with the hourlies you can try for it multiple times a day. But with the endurance ones, you can just keep going towards the goal.

The multi-day paths for the prologue and chapter 1 should now work - I'll add them for later requirements once I see that a few players have successfully played through them and that all the code was correct. Enjoy "Slow but steady" mode if you so prefer

Dagny - that's the spirit! You'll still be able to do them as they always were (and save yourself some days in the process)

Well, gee, these changes make me feel like a chump. I had to make some personal sacrifices to get those endurance bits and I would have preferred not to have undergone the costs that it took on my health, as it the Endurance badge was never a badge I was particularly interested in getting. I think that the GMM requirement is too high, so would you change that, too, while your changing things, please? Thanks.

I could have sworn the Ascension Quest was designed to be a long and very difficult journey for most players which is why it is only open to centurions not everyone is going to complete it. I honestly think all of the requirements should remain the same. I have been on chapter 4 for a few days now because of some tough scores in certain games and I have absolutely no problem with that. It will be that much more rewarding when I get out of there. I am thoroughly enjoying this and I think making certain aspects about this easier is a disservice to what a true challenge this is. Let's face it, not everyone is going to finish it which is why this is considered one of the most difficult challenges on this site.

I'm not averse to changes being made, I think it's quite nice for Wesley to bother at all after all the ridiculously hard work he has put into this thing already.

Although I have 130 something levels (or whatever), anything to do with "endurance" was never my forte (still trying to figure out exactly what mine is lol). I barely made 6789 and have absolutely no desire to try for 12345. But I managed the 20K thing at the beginning of this quest (mostly because I had the day off lol) but moreover because I wanted to see what "came next". I was most disappointed to find out from team board messages that I would probably have to duplicate this feat further along the road. Oh well, too bad tunafish ~

Yes, certainly, this entire challenge might not be for "everyone" and I applaud anyone who met the requirements on the first try. All y'all are a better "man" than I, Gunga Din lol.

I'll just keep on paddling my kayak : )

Has that thing got wifi?

I suppose it "could", but no it doesn't. Most importantly it has a fully stocked bar AND toilet paper. Oh yeah, there's probably a long list of some safety/survival gear on board too, but that would be boring lol.

(edited because apparently I can't spell worth crap).

An absolutely perfect post, Monarch. Well said. Period.

Some fine tuning of the game during the early stages of play seems to me like a good idea. It doesn't make sense to set a hurdle that a large number of players will find insurmountable right at the start. If you only have a few hours a day that can be spent here, then 20,000 points in a day is not going to happen. I did the 20,000 points when I met it, but had to wait until the weekend to have the time. I am lucky enough to be able to spend an entire day on FunTrivia on the weekend, if I plan things. Not everyone has that luxury.

There may be other tasks that will prove to be similarly out of the reach of some, leading to them giving up and waiting until some time in the future when they may be able to tackle it, but surely it should not happen at the very start. Wes's detour, that involves probably more time, but broken down into chunks that are more achievable for people facing time constraints seems eminently sensible.

That was the thinking behind my hopeful request and I am very appreciative of Wes's effort to open the game up for a few more people. It will still be very challenging to achieve for many of us whose time on site is limited but it is at least possible now.

By the way - this change wouldn't have been made if it had been just a handful of players. However in total between the prologue and chapter 1, what seemed to be a simple requirement during creation prevented over 100 players (!) from advancing, three quarters of those at the very first hurdle.

That's certainly not what it was meant to be - sorry to all stuck and I hope the "traffic jam" will now clear. And Grace, the GMM requirement you are referring to is already self-adjusting, so there's absolutely no need to change that.

Also, a free, tiny hint to those stuck at a certain library: There are two words in bold in the game's text. They're not just flavor and decoration

I'm just enjoying the round and round in circles I have been doing, but I now appear to be on the right track (or am I), rear end getting painful though, from kicking myself so much. I'll get there sometime at my own speed and pace and try to enjoy it as I go along.

I think it does what it says on the tin "FUN"

Rofl! Wesley, you mean thing. I was on the Who Am I for a couple of days and decided to back track and play the alternatives. Instead it eventually took me back to the Who Am I again. Hilarious!

Creedy, there IS a difference...

All grist for the mill, Wesley. I love this challenge wherever it takes us

Nice of you to join me Pat

Wes

There's some text showing when you achieve 7500 that probably shouldn't be there:

Checking if endure < 1
No. Value is currently 3

Dippo, it's a debug text - thanks for reporting it. Now I know that it affects more than one member. Terry will need to ensure these things don't show (but you can safely ignore it - it's some internal data I'm keeping to make you go around the loop the correct number of times)

I can't go any further until I have enough team points I gave up the leadership of my team to join another to even have a chance to earn some points. I like my new team though and am just 'hanging out' to be able to get further in the quest

In Hercules' original labor he was required to clean out the Augean Stables in a single day.

May I just say how thankful I am that you don't impose a similar time constraint on us for that task.

My thoughts exactly. I may be here a while.

The page I'm at now lists previous attempts, but it only lists five of them. I've made something like twenty attempts. Will all of them count, or only the five showing?

Hmmm, everyone is talking about the 20k - I wonder if I went the wrong way, because I had to reach 25k I think to remember. And also where I'm stuck at the moment (and have been for a few days), I seem to be stuck all on my own, nobody seems to have gone this way.

Haha, or more to the point, maybe people don't get stuck here and find this task easy
But I'm not going to retreat, because if I have to repeat one of my previous tasks, this will be much harder, so I'm just going to plod on, I know at one point my requirement will be met.

Froggyx - it may help you to make a decision if you read my post on page 13 of this thread (number 985345) and Wes's response two posts later.

Why not go for the alternate requirement? That should be much faster even if you initially have some trouble with the score (since it comes down over time)

Froggy, I know that feeling of the empty zone - quite worrying, lol! But following a rash retreat panic, I took the same attitude as you and the plodding worked just as well as dashing back and forth, for me anyway. Good luck.

That particular stage seems to have a profound effect on about everyone

Thanks Rossian, just went back to have a look, and it looks like I've decided for the right option.




Thanks, it's good to hear I'm not on my own

My target finally dropped to a score that I could manage with some luck. I'm now stuck not two pages farther on. But I needed to play this particular stop's game more anyway...and I get a badge at the end, so I'm happy

This may just be the way game goes but I'm confused. After a week of trying I finally achieved the score needed to move on.
It seems I'm being directed to back out for not being able to achieve the necessary score, in the very hour I reached the goal. Perhaps the direction is the one given to all who meet the required score.
Hope it's that way, after a week of trying & finally making it I'd hate to be tossed backwards at the last minute!

Aedan, you're go go "back out" of a certain building...

I need to adjust that wording it seems. You're not the first to misunderstand its intention

Wes - just out of curiosity - has the scoring adjustment you made helped with the logjam starting the game?

Could you give us a stats update for the numbers of players at each stage, too, please, if it's not too much work for you to produce.

At least 38 of the stuck players have so far used the bypass option with most of them having completed at least one leg. So this one seems to work

Stats:

2 in chapter 9
1 in chapter 6
4 in chapter 5
12 in chapter 4
30 in chapter 3
48 in chapter 2
106 in chapter 1
198 in prologue

401 total

Thanks, Wes. The further I get in the game the more I admire your ingenuity. It must have taken a huge amount of time to create the game and all the byways. I'm loving it, so far, even though I've had several sticky moments on the way, and am looking at another right now.

And I am rather enjoying my stage of gently wandering in circles, trying to find the way to get somewhere that I am sure is possible, if I only approach it correctly. It's a nice break from killing myself to meet challenges, now I am only grappling with my own lack of gaming skills. I'll probably end up stumbling over it by accident.

I'm only in chapter 1, but I'd also like to say a massive thanks to Wesley for the Ascension quest. Greek myth is a favorite subject, so that's the icing on the cake!

I like it, because now I might do better in the "Greek Myth" category in Expert; because this is NOT my subject of choice.

Have I missed anything chaps?

I have returned a score of over 7,500 points on each of the last three days and yet nothing seems to have changed on the page that comes up when I enter the Ascension Quest page from the homepage.

Am I doing something wrong? Does the page change after the 24hr update? Or should I have scored more than 7,500 pts?

sister, have you actually advanced from the stage after completing the 7500 requirement? If you just stay there, it will never count for more than one completion.

You need to complete the 7500, reload the stage and exit it on the day you did the requirement. You'll then pass a few other stages and loop back for the next try, but if you never leave, you'll never get credited for the second and subsequent completion.

I selected 'Go Back' and I was then advanced to the next stage... Thanks Wes.

I've chosen the alternative route for the points, and can't remember what the case is - must you achieve the 7500 four days *in a row* or just any four days as long as you come back to the page on each day to move it forward?

Any time. You can do it on four consecutive days or put in breaks just as desired.

Thanks, that's good news, haha The 20 was doable to begin with, but I'm very grateful for an alternative option.

Back at head 1 again for the third time, may just give this a miss, don't think it's for me

Is it four days at 7,500 points? I thought it was three?

sisterseagull, I think it may depend on exactly which stage you;re at. I had to do 4 x 7,500 to get past 25,000 points in a day rather than 20,000.

sister, you need 3 and have two completed on file, so you need one more to pass. Remember that one (maybe even two) of your rounds did not count because you didn't advance the stage after doing the criteria, so the system never saw some of your tries.

From the FAQ:

What should I know about completing individual challenges?

There are some new challenge types in this game, in particular those that require you to gather a certain number of points per day and those that ask you to perform at a certain level in Knockout. These two challenge types are time-dependent: You must go back into the game, claim them and advance to the next stage on the day you have met the requirements (Knockout always looks at the previous day to see whether you have won your game, so you need to check that on the very next day).

Gee, this new set-up sounds rather confusing. Maybe it is a good thing after all that some of us just bit the bullet and did the 20K when that was the only choice at the time we started the Quest!

Grace, the same could happen to you if you do it in one day (and in fact it did happen to one player who completed the 25k, did not advance the same evening and then found himself blocked the next day. So it does bear reminding - on a points per day stage, always advance once you have the points.

Yes Gracious... As Wesley says, I didn't realise that I had to advance until my third day at 7500

Talk about gutted! LOL

Well, I've done the 7,500 in a day 4 times in a row, instead of the 25,000 it originally wanted.

This morning it's asking me for another day of 7,500. Is that correct?

Why do I find myself singing "All Along the Watchtower" all day long?

dippo, something went wrong in your play pattern. You are shown correctly doing the 7500 twice on the 29th and 30th. On the 31st, you didn't return to the place where you were actually supposed to do them but rather played at the place where you checked for waking up (so it could not count). The same happened on June 1.

You need to be at the stage "Slow and steady..." to make your play register, not at "A well deserved rest...". (I see where the text misled you - the check for the new day is a bit complex and I probably didn't describe it too well). Let me see if I can get this a bit more clear in the game. You'll need one more round played as it stands now, please make sure that you leave the current stage again (to check for morning) and move on to "Slow and steady..." before going for it.

Thanks, but I think I'll forget it. As far as I'm concerned, I've done everything correctly, and it hasn't worked. I don't think 'something went wrong with my play pattern'. Maybe I'll come back in a few months when it might be sorted.

Changed the story text and explanation on those stages somewhat to hopefully make it clearer where you should be when playing for the daily score and how to get to the right place if you're not.

I don't mean to be rude or insensitive, but I don't think you have. You are entitled to your opinion but Wes has already been generous enough to offer people an alternate route (when 20,000 points only took me less than 2 hours of effort) and he's already had to explain numerous times what to do to people who haven't understood the instructions. The FAQ has explained to always advance in point requirements from the very start, Wes has explained what to do on here and the text when you reach that stage probably tells you what to do as well. You can do whatever you want, but it doesn't sound like you have done everything correctly, so coming back in a few months "when it might be sorted" doesn't make sense because there's no problem and nothing to sort out.

As far as I know, if you can advance (click the arrow and move on), you always should, apart from maybe in exploration stages or places that might give you hints. I might not have seen exactly the section where it gives you the 3x7500 option, but unless I'm missing something, clicking that arrow to continue is always what you should do if the game allows you to and staying in the same place when you've completed that task (e.g. the first set of 7500) seems illogical.

Thank you for your contribution. Your use of the expressions "probably", "as far as I know", "it doesn't sound like", "I might not have seen exactly" and "unless I'm missing something" all tell me what an authoritative statement it is.

By the way, "I don't mean to be rude or insensitive".

Dippo, that is enough cynicism for the day. I've taken this to PM with you for a reason.

Some of us are still going around in ever decreasing circles and getting very dizzy

I "think" (no, this isn't a Descartes quote lol) that folks need to write down EVERYTHING when/before/after they advance to a new stage.

I also always click on the Ascension link before I play as well as after I play what I assume is what the game WANTS me to play (assumptions are apparently not amongst my "talents" lol).

To me, it's sort of like some of the badges where if you don't "check in" in the "challenge" room, you don't get credit for them. Checking in fairly often is not a big deal for me (especially since I'm not advancing anywhere particularly fast in this game lol).

It's been quite entertaining so far (despite the waits due to my awful scores, but hey, too bad tunafish lol).

Yes there may be a few "bugs" (mind, I see some folks have made it to Chapter 9 already, so the bugs must be fairly few in number) but I am still in awe regarding the amount of work that has gone into this and I'm only in chapter one (or two, or something, could be confused as usual lol)

Thanks for the game Wes and your willingness to make accommodations where you deem them necessary.

p.s. I really really miss Infocom adventures. So far, this is the closest resemblance I've seen in awhile, with the extra complication of making it meld with FT in some way. Good work (even if I never finish it LOL!).

Jakeroo, this is exactly it - before playing, make sure you are where you think you are. I can fully understand that it is frustrating for some players if they meet a requirement only to find out it hasn't been scored because they forgot to click through to the right place (and this is something everyone needs to remember for several stages including the grand finale: If you're on one of those "You need to make just one of these and can freely switch back and forth until you hit one" segments, make sure you are switched to the one you want to play before playing. You wouldn't want to waste the best game you played all year just because you only thought you were at the right location...)

NOW he tells me...

I *hope* I completed the first 7500 day correctly yesterday - I saw somewhere it said something about count = 3, so I assumed it meant I have three days remaining. If that's the case, then it should be something for people to look out for to make sure their current day went through.

reeshy, your game log looks perfect.

Will there be a reduction for the "Fill Me In" stage? I arrived on 31 May and am not even close to the required score. It's the eighth head and I really don't want to retreat if possible. If not, I'll carry on trying.

This is all good advice people...

I started playing for my third and final 7,500 points earlier this afternoon. I have just completed the required number and returned to the 'Ascension Quest' page, exactly as I have done for the last five or six days to advance myself forward, only to find that it appears that I was expected to visit the page BEFORE I started on today's points building session. Consequently, I've been playing for the last what,... 6 and a half hours on and off, and it looks as if todays score isn't going to count - AGAIN!

Grrrrrrr.... LOL

Perhaps it needs a warning in red or something that the points are not retroactive. They are one of the few in the Challenges, so that could well confuse players.

I think we need to be careful though. This game has clearly been months in the making and it would be a shame to start re-writing it from the ground up!

It was my own fault for (a) making assumptions, and (b) not checking back before I started playing again.

Wes, I'm sure, must be getting sick of it all by now!

The trial and error might be part of the game.

I don't know how anyone can resist clicking on the page before you do anything else anyway! I click on it even when I know I don't stand a hope of moving on for at least another 24 hours. I click on the page repeatedly in the hope that I have read something incorrectly and I am really though to the next level ... cf Schrodinger's Cat.

Keep doing that! I do the same and it paid off once, as I had actually been playing the wrong game! I read the instructions again, clicked on Play Me instead of running off to play what I thought I was supposed to play, and advanced right away

Brilliant!

Sister, you've fallen to the same problem as Dippo - you've played the 7500 while in the wrong place. I'll add a big red "don't play here" / green "do play here" to these - it seems that in spite of the warning text already present, some players still accidentally play while on the rest stage.

Well, I guess I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that. :P I had to check and re-check the exact time my required score was going down today and then visited the page about 5 times a couple of minutes before even though I knew it wouldn't do any good at all.

lol! But maybe just observing it really could make a difference. (What time does the AQ-addicts-anonymous support group meet? Save me a chair.)

I'll book the Albert Hall, Chavs. We're gonna need a big space.

Forget the Albert Hll, nowhere near big enough - we need Hyde Park.

Even though the Ascension Quest can be puzzling, baffling, frustrating and downright crazy, I have to say it is always an entertaining and fun challenge. Thanks so much for all your effort Wes. However, my printer is probably going to die soon! As Wes has said, it is very valuable to have those notes! I had to backtrack one level and found I had missed one little thing! If I hadn't had notes, I would never have found that error. So every bit of information counts - keep on rising up everyone! Apollo would be proud!

I wish I had a printer connected to my laptop - there are many days when I can't read my own handwriting - should have been a doctor I guess lol.

I found out that there is another way around the part I was stuck at and really don't need what I thought I did (yay for oging back and re-reading the section! ). What a wally! After a big slap to the forehead and a rather resounding "derrrr", I have moved off onto the next bit. Feeling like a complete idiot now

I need to attend these meetings too. Are plane tickets available from the States?!

If you want the MCG (seats 100,000 or so, before you add seats on the playing ground), we could book a regular weeknight meeting. Friday to Monday is usually football or cricket, though,depending on the season. Americans will need visas, I think.

Jakeroo, I take screenshots of every single new page and file them in numerical order, might be an idea for you too

(a 'before' and 'after' shot I need to add)

I had that problem also dippo. There was a note about it not always recognizing one of the sessions and that you may end up having to do one too many.

WorldB, if you play correctly and always only play at the green "play here" box, you will never have an extra session. The note about extras was that it sometimes takes two rounds of clicks (but no play) to get back from the rest stage to the play stage.

This latter problem should change soon - I've asked Terry to expand the backend in a way that will make it MUCH easier and more intuitive to code the resting part of it.

I do the exact same, and keep them in their own folder for easy access later.

Important technical info: In case anyone is having trouble with an advancement or "go back" link, please do a hard reload of the stage in question. There has been a change to the advancement links to prevent a possible sneaky cheat (which a player accidentally discovered - no one actually cheated) and a link created prior to the change might no longer work.

If neither reloading nor restarting your browser give you a valid link, please drop me a message and I'll give your game position a good kick.

This is a one-time issue affecting only your first advance after the change. Once you have successfully advanced a stage after about 2pm today, you are no longer prone to be affected by it.

Something seems to be wrong with my game. I wrote you a PM.

Removed

froggy and k-girl: wow you two are way too organised for me! lol (but I do thank you both, that's an excellent suggestion) : )

Technical note: Thanks to a backend improvement by Terry, I was now able to re-code the multi-day point segment in a more intuitive way. This code change did not lose any game data; all progress including how many days you have already played is fully intact.

A few players (5 to be exact) are currently at a stage that is no longer needed in the game - if your screen should indicate so, please simply use the link provided to return to your correct position and progress.

Jakeroo - I copy and paste the bits I need to keep into a Word document. I don't do anything else too fancy, like folders, but at least I know I'll have a record of what I've done. I can only hope that I haven't dismissed something as unimportant now which will be vital later...

I wish I'd thought of that!

I now figured, that in the worst case scenario (and I think I've really made my best attempt and won't get another better one) I should be able to move on on Sunday after resetting.

But, as it only shows the last 5 attempts since arriving, will it remember my best score even if it no longer shows on the list because it was 6 or 7 days ago, Wes?

No idea, froggy. That would be one Terry would have to answer. I'd suspect it's rather by number of days, not by count, but I don't know the backend code.

Hmm, in this case I think I just don't make any further attempts (or maybe 1), just to make sure my highest score in this game won't get lost.

Hmm I don't want to have a huge scrolling list of attempts... perhaps I should show the top 5 scores since you've arrived there.

Actually only the best attempt would really be needed as a display score - "You played 8 times and your best score was 1376" would be a good message. None of the stages looks at anything but the best game.

Any of these two options would be great

Post deleted.

As an editor, you see some of the debug messages. You can ignore them - they're not really useful to you anyway unless you know the exact structure of the game's code.

(By the way, can you please cut them from the post? No need to show them in public - that might only entice some people to try and prove the second half of my first line wrong )

seems like I've been slightly too pessimistic - couldn't resist playing today and finally made it - whoo hoo

Congratulations! That must have felt great.

This game is like an old British sitcom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Decreasing_Circles

It did Chavs, ta

Especially, it happened totally unexpected!
I think it was my highest score I ever had in this game, I think this score would've even been enough for the initial goal on the first day.

Wes - I seem to have run into a problem. Last night, I broke down a stage to complete 7,500 points for 3 days and completed the first stage last night about an hour before FT should have turned over the end of day. It is now almost 12 hours later and I have the following when I return to the Ascension link:



with a "go Back" option.

It appears to me that I can't score points today that will count?

Thanks

the value indicates how many days you have to go, so yesterday did count. You click on the go back and follow the links until you get the green box. Sometimes it happens first time, other times I had to click through a few times through the screens.

OK that worked. Thanks. I was afraid to go back based on the messages I thought told me not to.

I've been stuck for over a week now trying to get what seems like an impossible score (for me) on the Daily Game. Can I assume that if the target has not yet been reduced (it hasn't) that it never will?

I'm quickly losing interest, especially as there's only one chance a day to advance.

Liz; the good thing about this game is that it's not a race. If it takes years before reaching the score; imagine the excitement when you finally get it and are able to move on!

The game is not for everyone; there are definitely going to be scores that I am sure I will be stuck at for months and months... One lucky day I may finally get a good score in a game to advance. But it's kind of fun to know that this game is going to be a very long haul.


Course, that's my opinion... :P

Liz: FAQ, 4th entry

Thanks Wes I guess I have a decision to make.

I was the same, and only tried it because I saw no other option. Thankfully everything went smoothly! Glad you got to the next stage.

The latest stats show a wide field of players all over the game:

Chapter 12: 2 players
Chapter 8: 2 players
Chapter 6: 3 players
Chapter 5: 12 players
Chapter 4: 26 players
Chapter 3: 50 players
Chapter 2: 62 players
Chapter 1: 89 players
Prologue: 169 players

Total 415 players

Is there any chance that if we drag our feet long enough the number of quizzes required in certain sections might go down as scores of games do? Pretty please????

I don't see why it would be needed. You can replay the quizzes every 24 hours for as long as you want, so it doesn't seem needed to bring the number down. After a week, you could memorize the answers to get all 10 in every quiz.

I am talking about the sheer number of quizzes required. I was semi-kidding, but you will see it for yourself when you get there, lol.

Salami when you get to the part that bubbles is on you might have second thoughts :P I don't think the number should go down because you can always chip away at them, much better than being stuck at a particularly high daily game target for a fortnight in my opinion.

Heck, it was worth a try!

Bubbles, be glad I didn't stay true to the original and make you do that stage in one day

Bubbles - I feel your pain...

I'm at that point in Chapter 3 where I can hear the Tempos singing "See You in September" but I know I don't have to wait that long. Do I? I've gone back but I seem to be in a big circle. I'm thinking I missed an option but they all seem to be redded out. Just tell me there is a way out from here and I'll work on it.

Seems to me the bar for the Mind Melt is set too high....

I'm having fun with chapter 3. But, of course, I just got here...

It gets less fun after a while, meathead.

I'm almost done with it and ready to leave. Lol.

CmdrK - there is definitely an escape hatch.

Getting very Dizzy going around and around in circles

I think so for the Pot of Gold!?

I think so for neither. PoG has different topics over the week, so it is important to make your best subjects count - if you can't tell Michael Jordan from Michael Schumacher, Sunday likely won't be your qualifying score but you might do much better on another day

Grace - the Mind Melt you are stuck at is just one of multiple possible ways to advance where you are. A different path could be much more suitable for you.

GM Madness... that score is not moving down, aaargh! PoG was okay, Smartest, Piece of Cake, Heroes - all you have to do is wait for the right topic and you'll get there. But Madness questions are so random and obscure it's worse than Obscurity - and that target is very high.

/today's moaning ends.

*has it from well informed Olympian sources that Apollo is not happy with Flopsy's progress*

Tell Apollo to take a hike round the sun!

Or better still, he can play that blooming game for me.

You know, you might want to show a slightly more deferential attitude to one of those who will decide on your eventual Ascension. You might even want to go and offer some penance, erm... about... now

You're enjoying this, Wesley, I can tell you like making rabbits squirm. I went, no one was accepting any penance, pennies, or even Euros. And no one was reducing that score either!

Did you try pesos?

I already know I'm going to struggle with this next task I'm at... But if I don't succeed, there are other options.

Admin note: For those currently on a "Smartest" requirement - I am aware of the question pool change and that it will most likely affect scores. Please allow me until Friday afternoon to see how scores play out. I will then make some provisional adjustments to targets to bridge the time until I can get fully vetted 7 to 14 day stats to decide the final new target scores with.

In the meantime, all AQ players can help me by playing as much Smartest as possible - the more scores I have, the better my estimates.

I'd forgetten about these changes. I played 'Animals' earlier, and thought the questions seemed a bit less familiar. I achieved the target I needed for AQ, with a couple of lucky guesses, but I'll try to play as many as I can to help you, Wes.

Wes, I've just clicked something I had no intention of clicking on! I've sent you a PM. Thanks!

"[redacted]"

So easy. :p I've been trying to do that for 2 days. I've been around and around so many times I don't see how I could have missed anything in this chapter. I'm getting tired of that stoned-out witch, too.

Is there a sequence that has to be done in precise order or else you have to begin again?

I guess griping will make it so. I've found my way farther along.

Wes, you have made an awesome game! I wanted to say that now because after a few more chapters like this one, I might be tempted to say something else.

Please everyone be careful you don't accidentally post clues from the game here - it would give away information others still need to find themselves.

Sorry

I was wondering why it was day 8 of me not going anywhere due to the "Smartest" requirement. I usually don't play the hourly game that often anyway. I figured I'd get an easier set of questions sooner or later, or the requirement would decrease. I love the challenge of the high requirement. When I finally achieve progress, it will be that much more satisfying. Don't make it too easy. Make us work for it...

The pool change happened yesterday, unless I've misunderstood something. I would imagine that you being stuck for a week was (no offense) due to you not particularly excelling at Smartest, combined with a difficult score.

Same reason I'll be stuck on my task for the next week or two.

Don't worry - the change will just adapt to the new question difficulty level. Almost all scores in AQ are based on "x% of players pass this within y games" stats, but if things suddenly get harder, I need to find new absolute numbers matching the desired x and y. Some of the requirements are close to impossible to make if you get a new-style set.

The requirement you are at right now should however be a decreasing one - slowly, but decreasing.

So far nothing anyone has said has helped me in the slightest. Besides, I'm going to be stuck in (wherever I am) until the point requirement drops below 500 LOL (I'm guessing that will be around Christmas or so) : )

I like the adventure though!

...and the game has been won! daBomb619 is the first to have passed the gates of Mount Olympus and qualified himself as a full Olympian!

You can see the official confirmation here:

http://www.funtrivia.com/profile/daBomb619.html

(And wow. That was about three times faster than I expected the best to make it in. Congrats!)

Wow. Fantastic work daBomb and many congratulations. You give some hope to the rest of us.

Congratulations daBomb! I think it quite fitting that his profile lists Olympia, WA as his location

That's ironic. Perhaps because he was an Olympian all along, he had an advantage.

Wow...amazing! And here I thought he changed his location to show that he truly ascended...

Well done dabomb! A fantastic achievement.

Congratulations!

Congratulations from me as well. I'm still stuck in the prologue, but I hope to be able to get out of it one of these days. Sometimes you have time to play FT only a couple of hours a day total because life is too busy, but that's just the way things go.

I finally made it out of the prologue!!! Yippee.

Congrats, Sue... You're on your way!

I love that the current page I'm on lists the scores of the attempts that I have made to get through that section. Yes, I am stuck again, but it won't be for long. Wes, thanks so much for putting this one together.

Oh Wow, this is incredible, well done DaBomb, congratulations!!

I'm still stuck in chapter 3, probably for another month or so, haha

Congratulations to Eyhung, who has also Ascended to the pantheon of gods.

Very well done eyhung!

Many congratulations! I'm just glad to be out of the prologue!

The Hydra in chapter 2 has me twisted in knots. It seems I've been here for weeks. This is still so much fun though!

Quick question - on the Ascension badges on winners' profiles, it shows a rank. What are these ranks?

I suppose we will learn when we reach that point.

It just adds to the intrigue of the game. I'm hoping to find out myself, one day.

These ranks are post-victory side quests. You start at XVII and work your way to I.

In other words, the end isn't the end

It ain't over 'til it's over...and even then, who knows?

I've paused for a few weeks, while on the badgelet that has a stag on it. This is a bit weird to ask, I know, but I've become very attached to the stag badgelet and don't fancy the others ones as much.

I don't suppose there could be an option to choose our favourite badgelet to keep when we've finally completed the entire game? Instead of everyone ending up with the same one?

I know. It's a bit daft, but... it would be nice. And if you don't ask..etc.

I kind of like the idea. I would suggest that if it is added, there's something on the badgelet to show that you have completed Ascension - otherwise people might get confused ("what? they've completed it? but it says they're only on chapter 3!"). Something like a gold border or even just "XIV" written on it would work.

But I suppose with 14 different chapters, 17 side-quests and only 800 people even being able to start Ascension, there'll be quite a lot of variety on people's profiles anyway.

There may have been only about 800 people eligible to start Ascension Quest at the first day, but anyone who reaches level 100 can still enter. Even in some years from now there may be room for new competitors.

Have past my first two weeks of my sentence at the Madness on Level 4. Strange thing, every morning I still hope that for some weird reason the requirement will start dropping! Alas, not yet! LOL And the beat goes on!

I am stuck at having to attain 7500 points to move on in the Ascension Quest. I can't play enough to reach that score although I play every day. How can I move past this obstacle?

nmerr,

You may not want to try the Ascension Quest if you can never hit 7500. That requirement used to be 20,000, and it was lowered to three sets of 7,500 to allow people with less time to play to be able to take part. That said, not every challenge or game is for everyone. I know that I will be one of the people to take the long route doing the Ascension Quest, and I accept that and am savoring every step of the way. Consider whether you want to do the game that way, playing when you have the time to dedicate to it, and not worrying about it when you don't. If not, then this would probably not be a good fit. There are many other activities here that lend themselves to players with less time to dedicate to them. I hope you find a way to take part in the Quest.

Sue

Thanks rossian, I managed to complete the quest the day before I went on vacation so haven't been on the site that much recently. Good luck to everyone else on the Quest!

That's what I call excellent timing, Eyhung!

You need to have TIME to play to reach endurance scores - 7500 isn't an unreasonable goal.

To maximise your points over time:

First play every daily game possible, then play every hourly game possible - every hour - and in between play quizzes.

You'll be amazed at how quick that 7500 comes around.

AND remember to rate every quiz you play - every 5 quizzes rated gives you another 100 points!

I am trapped in the vicious circle of chapter 3. One of the tasks is to get 10,000points in a day, which I did yesterday. Then there was a short wait. Now I've gotten back to needing 10,000 points in a day again. Is it my wrong choices? I thought I went to the Ascension page yesterday after getting the required points. I will be plugging along to another 10,000 points today unless the guardian takes pity on me. By the way, this is still fun and better than being at work!

You did walk around quite a bit today. Are you sure you've explored all your options?

I thought I explored everything. The only think I didn't do was click on the one with the red letter warning of a very long wait! Do I have to get 10,000 points again today?

I can't answer that

I tried! Never hurts to ask!

Keep the faith, golfmom! You'll get there.

Thank you, Chavs, for the encouragement! I'm not giving up and I'm glad there is no set time limit to finish!

This is positively evil! Thank you!

I'm still stuck on 3 too, Golfmom, but I'm stuck at a daily game target. For some reason, my scores have all been roughly the same.... 1400-1530, which is about 30 points too short.

Golfmom, I take it you found the answer - now you know why I couldn't answer your question

Yes, I found the answer, quite sneaky! Now I wish I had chosen a different task! Oh well, must keep plugging along!

I wish I had just a daily game to conquer now that I've found my way!
Back to work!

Gotta tell you folks ... the updating of the question database with new questions has made some of the tasks that were quite doable a few weeks ago almost impossible now. I'm stuck at one right now and it may take a long time to get past it while it was old hat just recently.

Fixed the two you are stuck on - they were indeed now a bit rude (I really need to make myself a list of which game is used where - totally missed that segment in the last update)

And here I was going to foolishly say how I completed the quest with familiar questions just after posting here.

Thanks for the assist Wes.

I have been enjoying the Quest, but I seem to have reached an impasse. I am in Chapter 4 and I have reached a challenge dealing with Gold Member Madness. The target assigned is extremely high for this game (most games are won with no one reaching this score). That would not have been a problem in earlier challenges along the Quest, but this is the first time that the target is not dropping. I have been here now for over two weeks and still face this very high target. If this is how it is meant to be, I will continue to play Gold Member Madness (it is actually one of my favorite games and I do score well on it, just not this well) and some day I will reach this magic number.

Keep trying! I was at the same hurdle for about 10 days, and then got just the right combination of question (or sheer luck). I, too, was waiting in vain for that number to change, but it out-stubborned me.

Good luck!

May I once again mention the fourth FAQ entry?

I wish I had remembered FAQ entry four first - not check after over 3 weeks! :-)

Not sure this is the faq page you folks are talking about... but just in case folks have forgotten how to navigate to one of them, here's a link..

http://www.funtrivia.com/faq.cfm?system=4

There is also a link right beside the link to play Ascension Quest in the Gold Members section of the home page. I see it every time I play, since I can't use the dropdown list from Games to get there - that list is so long that Ascension Quest is offscreen on my laptop.

I'm with you on that one Looney. My games list doesn't go past "Team Heroes". I realise this is no doubt my fault as I'm using a Sony laptop which doesn't allow me to change the resolution to something much smaller. So instead, because we have the ability as Gold members, I've set up direct menu links to whatever page I want. But still, it's kind of annoying to have to do that and that practice can make for a very lonnnng list of menu choices lol. It would be nicer if the games list would "scroll" instead of sitting there pretty much stagnant.

Girlies, if you hold the Ctrl key, then scroll your mouse wheel, you can increase or decrease the size of the font to allow you to pack more onto your screen. See if that works.

Or just do CTRL + - for shrinking and CTRL + + for enlarging.

My laptop doesn't have a mouse wheel. Anyway, I like the font size as it is, and am prepared to cope with the fact that some things are a bit awkward. When I change the zoom to make more fit on the screen at once, it becomes just that little bit more difficult for my aging shortsighted eyes to read clearly. Every once in a while I do something unwittingly to change it, and immediately scramble to make it the 'right' size again.

Actually there's another way. The up and down arrow keys work. Mouseover the "Games" menu, then use the "down" arrow. Should work. It works for me.

Now THAT works a treat - thanks for the suggestion.

Awesome and you're welcome! Glad it worked.

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

Blimey, I think I fell into a trapdoor.

Let's ruminate a while. I have an escape option, but maybe patience will get me some extra benefit.

Meanwhile I can still look at a fine stag for a while.

Hmmm, I've been stuck on an Expert Game for 4 (yes 4!!!) days.
The requirement is so high, it's very difficult to achieve at the moment, due to the change of question pool etc.
At first it was 1450, it has meanwhile dropped down to 1430.
1450 was rather hard EVEN BEFORE the changes, but would've been ok on one's good topics.
I've played a few of my good topics since, and the best I was able to achieve something like 1385
I might have taken the wrong turn, seeing as the requirement is so high (nobody else is stuck here), so it might not be ment to be beaten.
But there is NO WAY OUT!?
I want out - help

If the target is dropping, that means it is not a dead end. All you can do is keep playing, and wait until the target drops to one of the scores you have already achieved. (The target works retrospectively, as long as you have met it after getting there. I have sometimes had to wait about a week before a target dropped to what I had achieved on one of my very first attempts. If it is dropping 5 points a day, you will have to wait no more than another 9 days, and you might well get a better score before then, anyway.) Working on these can help you improve your speed for the future.

I have just recently pulled new stats but need to change them in the game manually, stage by stage, so this will take a few days as I want to make sure I do it correctly. I did two of the most crucial late-game areas first and will tackle the rest bit by bit. Chapter 6 will certainly be among the very next on my list since it has relatively high requirements.

Could be worse. I'm stuck on Monster for two weeks without a perfect score. I may be here for months.

Take the time to do some research for Monster - without Google, I might never have found the Treasure.

Yes, Looney, I was stuck on some daily games for over a week sometimes, and I wasn't too bothered about it (well, I was, but I knew I just wasn't good enough on those, and had to wait, as you only get 1 attempt a day), but to be stuck for so long on an hourly game seems very long, I thought (as I said, I played quite a few of my good topics, and had approximately 28 attempts in total).
Yes, at one point (another 9 days), it'll have dropped enough to move on, but for an hourly game it seems a bit harsh.



Yay, lets hope the one I'm stuck is one of those

The one I spent a lot of time waiting on was also an hourly game - but since I have NEVER managed 23 seconds in Piece of Cake, let alone since the new database has been in use, I knew I just had to wait until the required time met what I am capable of doing, and get in some practice to recognise the new questions in my favourite categories more quickly again.

I was stuck in one game for about two weeks. It's just a question of patience, I suppose.

lol yes, patience has always been my weakness

Thanks for reviewing the targets, Wes. I appreciate the work you have done, especially having to repeat some of it when you thought you'd finished.

Patience isn't one of my virtues either, Froggy, and this game is testing the little I have to the limit.

I was stuck on one and then went on holiday for a fortnight and when I got back score had reduced enough for a previous score to have counted and for me to continue on my way. Sometimes the only option is to wait and depending on the scores you normally get the wait could be a while.

Where I am now I will have to wait about 13 days for a score I have in the bag to count, in the meantime I continue to play in case I get lucky.

Still enjoying the trip even though I do have the odd swear about things to myself.

I don't think Monster reduces, I think you simply have to get a perfect score no matter how long it takes.

Yeah, Monster Game isn't a score that will reduce. Looney nailed it for a hint in case you need to reduce the difficulty of that game a bit

I'm spending about two weeks in a very tedious stage. Having to play lots of quizzes about video games and US sports teams is not endearing me to this stage! I'm sure there's a quicker way out of here, but I'm too dense to find it.

As the saying goes, one man's trash is another's treasure... the AQ quiz selection is balanced across all categories, so it's inevitable that some will be in the areas you like least. Other players would most certainly complain if exactly these categories were excluded (but dislike those you love to play).

Phew, finally managed to move on (not thanks to the decrease of score, but simply a good category, of which I know a bit about and is easy to practise on FT)

ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT IT WAS ALL IN VAIN




I'm stuck on this one at the moment (hoping I took the right turn this time), but hopefully should be out sooner than on the Expert, fingers crossed.

I seem to be stuck on getting the required number of points for Pot of Gold to progress.

For the third time I get the required number of points - in the time limit required - and I'm sent back to square one.

It's very discouraging if this is all that is going to happen, every time it fulfill the requirements only to get sent back to square one and have to start yet again.

Even when I try to go back, I just get sent back to where I started and have to try and complete the task in even less time than before.

You are progressing past Pot of Gold and then always giving up on the next stage - so it's no wonder you need to do it over. (You've done that five times in a row!). Look at that second stage again - it's a totally different (easier) game where you need to get the lesser time.

Also, please reregister for the forums with your exact FunTrivia user name - it took me several minutes of extra time to even look at your race log because I needed to figure out who you actually are on the main site.

We have a third Ascended - congrats rossian!

Congrats Rossian!

I think solving a combination lock that involved numbers was my high point so far on Fun Trivia! Hey, I was an English major, and I never thought I'd get it. When I actually achieved it, I was dancing around the house. Then I went on to get 21000 points to get another challenge done. Yesterday was a good day. Woo Hoo!

The day I got the 21000 point challenge, I was already working on a "Nemesis" daily challenge... Two birds with one stone

Thanks Wes and Salami. I think it's fair to say that I didn't take the motorway/
autobahn/freeway, but took what we in the UK would call the 'pretty route'. This involved various detours, only some of which were intended, various cul-de-sacs and false trails, many of which just brought me back to my starting point. I loved every minute, although I did run out of pins to stick in my effigy of Wes.

Don't worry, Rossian, I have plenty of pins so will carry on with the sticking.

Congratulations on getting through! *applauds!*

Congratulations Rossian!

Well done, Rossian!

Well done rossian

Thanks everyone. I'm still finding it hard to believe I've done it.

Yet again I have got the required number of points in the time limit require on the easier stage of 16 questions right (1400 points)in 200 seconds in Pot of Gold, and then find I have to get 18 right in 100 seconds. The part I am getting stuck on.

I was under the impression that the go back to where I started option would allow the player to try a different route, but I just keep getting returned to the same place.

The FAQ says:



Sometimes the go back links will send you back, like the name suggests. Sometimes you'll get an alternate path or it'll just advance you straight forward (according to the FAQ - I've not been lucky enough to stumble across anything like that yet), but not always.

If you use the link once, and it sends you back to the start, I think you can presume (at least in the earlier stages) that using it again will do the same thing - especially if you try it 4 times more and it still sends you back.

It seems you have advanced through that second stage now - it's not really more difficult since the new score is on a totally different game.

And yes, what Adam said - a link will not behave differently unless you've changed something. Looping through the same three stages multiple times won't lead to an exit.

I'm also telling you all a small secret: "Go back" links are never dynamic or variable. (If you think there's an exception to that somewhere: It isn't. There's something else about that area.)

Where I am currently located (I can add further details if you wish, either here or by PM) the text says I have to play Fill Me In and get a certain score, but the link provided actually goes to Who's the Smartest.

Since I've been asked for some stats, here's the current distribution of Questians across the game:

Ascended - 3
Chapter 12 - 5
Chapter 11 - 2
Chapter 10 - 2
Chapter 9 - 8
Chapter 8 - 1
Chapter 7 - 19
Chapter 6 - 26
Chapter 5 - 16
Chapter 4 - 64
Chapter 3 - 64
Chapter 2 - 52
Chapter 1 - 78
Prologue - 132

I've been reading through the posts and there were quite a few about specific stages of the AQ but I am really stuck at a challenge that seems truly unattainable, for me.
I'm at the "Fill In" challenge and the bar is set so high I know I'll never reach it.
I haven't seen any other players come even close to the necessary score although I'm aware some players have finished the quest.
My question is if the bar will be lowered for this game, I'm into my third day and so far no lowering.
I'm leery of going back and having to play all the challenges I'm already managed to surmount only to be stuck here again but I wonder if this particular challenge is meant to be seen as impossible (for me anyway) and force me to go a different route.

If the score hasn't lowered after 24 hours of you being there, then it won't lower.

There are some points where the unattainable target is a sign that you should go back and try another approach. There are alternative ways to get past the essential tasks, as far as I have seen, although I know that I did miss something useful but not essential on one level. You have to make the decision but, as Buddy1 said, the targets that drop do so, even if only marginally, after you have been there trying for 24 hours. My only suggestion would be that you may actually need to make some doomed attempts before it will start falling. If you try a couple of hours, and nothing has changed 24 hours later, I would give up and go back.

Reading the FAQ again, particularly number four, will also help.

Thanks all for the feedback, it's what I was thinking the answer was.
Time to go in a new direction!

You definitely originally picked the choice of the courageous hero... but certainly not the wise one

Fool's do indeed rush in
Still, enjoyed the attempt & certainly surprised myself making it that far!

I am finding the 7th stage very daunting. I feel like the dog chasing his tail. Round and round in circles. I keep coming back to the same place.
Whoever devised this maze, kudos.

I drew a very elaborate map while solving it.

Me too. Once I had the map in place, it was pretty smooth sailing.

I agree that the map idea is a good suggestion. This was one of my favourite levels of the game.

I need more than a map, I need a miracle or two

It must have taken quite a while to put together some of these twisted puzzles.

I agree - a lot of effort has gone into this game.

A map definitely helped in Chapter 7 tho - I would have been going round in circles for years if I hadn't done it. So many places look the same otherwise. It finally took me 2 weeks to realise that there was one place I hadn't discovered yet...

Although I'm not on Chapter 7 yet, I have experienced what sounds like something similar in Chapter 3.

Wait til you see level 12! There are so many curiously interesting challenges here.



No, you haven't

You will soon though!

I think I would go for 'head banging on a wall' challenges. Just when I think I've solved something it turns out I haven't LOL

I found a (non-revolving) door in level 7 and felt so brave to turn the lever, just to be confronted with a really difficult task (for me anyway) and will probably be stuck here for a while. Can anybody tell me who's completed this level if this was the correct way to go (there is no way out)?

You'll probably hit every room of that maze before you get out.

You will be able to answer this yourself after a day. If the lever (and its associated score) is stuck, you can draw your conclusions from that. If it's loosening the more you tug at it, you can draw a different conclusion...

Ooohh all that tugging seems to have helped, the score has just dropped considerably - at this rate I might be able to move on soon (tomorrow perhaps) and won't have to spend too much time here, so even if I made the wrong decision it won't be too bad

I've played these sorts of mind games, years ago, and managed to get those. There is of course a Certain Other Task where I just have to roll up my sleeves and do it though.

I'm trapped in level 7 and I need a map, a miracle, a bourbon, a scotch and a beer because I don't know what to do next.

Draw a map, label it carefully, and use it to make sure you have visited every room. It took me a while to work out what the map looked like, but after that life became a lot simpler.

I'm in Chapter 6, looking at a red box and waiting for it to change to green. How long do I have to wait? I achieved yesterday's goal at about 11:00 PM, FT time. Do I have to wait until 11:00 tonight to continue? Hope not. There's some text at the bottom of the page: No. Value is currently 2 Debug script?

You need to advance away from where you currently are to get the green box. Right now, you should have only one possible link. (I'll leave the debug message to Terry... we still seem to have some in there.)

Edit: Added a little more text that should make the situation clearer - I hope.

It does. I was unsure where that link would take me before you added the text. Thanks, Wes.

I guess I'm the first to say it: nice going, pagea.

It took me a while to figure out what you meant by that. Congratulations pagea for winning the Ascended mega-badge!

It took me a while to figure out what you meant by that. Congratulations pagea for winning the Ascended mega-badge!

EDIT: Oops! Didn't realize I posted this twice.

I knew this was a bug the first time before I went back and redid every step in chapter four. I've done everything there is to do. I've visited every place and done everything they told me to do. I've copied every single word into my notes and yet it still says I don't have everything.

I guess it is time to give up because there is nothing more I can do.

If you have all the information, and have interpreted it correctly, you should have no trouble breezing through the maze and out. Possibly you need to look more closely at your notes to see if they contain more information than you have yet detected.

As someone who has completed Chapter 4, let me tell you that if you have all copied down all letters and all colors and all the text, you will be able to complete the chapter. I was able to do so, only one attempt needed for each part of the latter section of Chapter 4.

Colours? Geez, back to ye olde drawing board!

Well done to pagea for completing the challenge. It's getting more crowded up here by the day, but there's still room for plenty more & we'd like the company.

To those still struggling - it can be done. I took a more circuitous route myself than the first two to finish, but all roads lead to Rome (er, Mount Olympus) eventually.

I think that sometimes there are too many clues given out in this thread whether they are intentional or not.

Wesley can choose to hand out some information if he chooses but this is a challenge for people to work out on their own not to be given clues on how to solve things.

You either solve them eventually by trying different things or you don't get to ascend.

I've been very frustrated at a number of levels (and still am LOL) but I eventually figured them out by carefully looking over everything again.

I haven't ascended yet but when I do I want to get there on my own - and I want others to as well.

Thanks everyone and thanks to Wes to putting the whole thing together. Fantastic!