ToNG 5 Items Puzzle:

thefabricant

In Tomb of the Nine Gods the most commonly skipped puzzle is the puzzle whereby you need to choose 5 items in the correct order, however, this is actually most likely the fastest puzzle out of all 3 of them when done correctly. I will attempt to explain here how to do it properly, in order to promote more parties doing this puzzle.

The objective within the puzzle is to select 5 of the 6 items in the correct order. Some important things to note about the puzzle is the following:
1) The position of the 6 items is always the same and is as follows:

2) All 5 players within the party have the same order, but can solve the puzzle independently. Only 1 player needs to get the order right for the puzzle to be complete.
3) If you choose something incorrectly, you have to start over, however everyone else attempting the puzzle can continue from wherever they are.
4) The First 4 items in the puzzle say use hidden switch:

5) The last 2 items (of which you only need to choose 1) in the order say manipulate pedestal:

6) When someone finds 1 of the items in the sequence, it displays what they found and the position within the order that it is, on the bottom left hand corner of your screen (if you have toggled npc dialogue voices off these do not display, just set your slider for npc voices to 0 like me):

As you can see in this example, the Shield was the first part of the sequence.
7) Any item you have selected within the current attempt is highlighted in blue, like this:

8) If you fail on the 3rd Hidden Switch in the order, you automatically know the 3rd is the 1 you did not use and the 4th is the 1 you did use.

With all of this in mind, the fastest way to solve the puzzle is as follows:
1) 4 people within the party all interact with the items labelled, "Use Hidden Switch." This guarantees that you find the first item in the sequence on the first try. 1 person gets to sit out this step.

2) The person who gets the first 1 (lets call them Albert), then goes to 1 of the other 3 labelled, "Use Hidden Switch" and tries it. 2 of the other party members (lets call them Jess and Paul) use the 1st item in the order. If Albert gets it right (which happens 1/3rd of the time) it displays on the left and then Jess+Paul know to interact with it (This leads to 3A). If Albert guesses incorrectly, it does not display on the left and Jess+Paul each use 1 of the other 2 labelled, "Use Hidden Switch" which results in 1 of them guaranteed to get the correct one, lets say Jess got it (This leads to 3b).

3a) In the situation where Albert guesses correctly, he then picks 1 of the other 2 remaining that state, "Use Hidden Switch." If he guesses correctly, you automatically know that the last remaining 1 that states, "Use Hidden Switch" is the 4th as it is the only remaining one that says this. If he guesses incorrectly, you know that the other 1 that says, "Use Hidden Switch" is the 3rd and the 1 he clicked on is the 4th. In which case, Jess+Paul both click on the 3rd and 4th one. Either way, for a continuation of these outcomes, see 4a.

3b) If Albert Guessed Incorrectly, then Paul and Albert start over, while Jess clicks on 1 of the other 2. If Jess gets it right, she then automatically knows what the 4th 1 is as it is the last remaining 1 that states, "Use Hidden Switch." If Jess gets it wrong, Albert and Paul know the 1 she did not choose is the 3rd and the 1 she did choose is the 4th and they can both choose the correct ones. Either way, for a continuation of these outcomes, see 4b.

4a) If Albert chose the 4th item correctly, then he guesses 1 of the 2 that says, "manipulate pedestal." If he gets it right, the puzzle is complete. If he gets it wrong, either Jess or Paul click on the 1 he did not click on. If Albert did not choose the 4th item correctly, Jess clicks on 1 item and Paul clicks on the other item and the puzzle is complete.

4b) If Jess guesses the 3rd and 4th items correctly, then she randomly guesses 1 of the other 2. If she guesses the "Manipulate Pedestal" correctly, then the puzzle is finished. If she gets it wrong, then Paul+Albert know that the item she did not select is the final 1. If Jess failed on the 3rd, then Albert+Paul each guess a different 1 for the 5th and either way the puzzle is complete.

Even if only 2 people do the puzzle however, it can still be done efficiently.

Here is a video example of the puzzle being done:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEp4GEnc8Oc&feature=youtu.be

rjc9000

So, Sharp, which genius figured out the tooltip is the key to solving this quickly?
It only took him/her/(insert pronoun here) 5 months to figure this out.

And why did you pick those names specifically?

thefabricant

rjc9000 said:

So, Sharp, which genius figured out the tooltip is the key to solving this quickly?
It only took him/her/(insert pronoun here) 5 months to figure this out.

And why did you pick those names specifically?

I have no clue who worked out the tooltip was the key, otherwise I would have attributed someone. 1 day multiple people suddenly started mentioning it independently of each other and I have no reliable way of working out who it was who noticed it first.

The names I picked were chosen at random, they were the first names that came to mind when I was thinking up names for people that I could actually spell correctly, that are not names of people within the community that I know (so nobody feels picked on). I did think of a few other names before that, but was too lazy to google the correct spelling. Originally I called them, "person 1, person 2 and person 3" but that became kind of confusing.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

hypnotorious

Others likely figured this out as well. But the first I know of was alleyKate of Wraithguard. We've been solving the puzzle this way for something like a couple of months.

armadeonx

On names, you could've gone with something like:
(A)lbert
(B)rian
(C)hris
(D)enise

micky1p00

thefabricant said:

rjc9000 said:

So, Sharp, which genius figured out the tooltip is the key to solving this quickly?
It only took him/her/(insert pronoun here) 5 months to figure this out.

And why did you pick those names specifically?

I have no clue who worked out the tooltip was the key, otherwise I would have attributed someone. 1 day multiple people suddenly started mentioning it independently of each other and I have no reliable way of working out who it was who noticed it first.

The names I picked were chosen at random, they were the first names that came to mind when I was thinking up names for people that I could actually spell correctly, that are not names of people within the community that I know (so nobody feels picked on). I did think of a few other names before that, but was too lazy to google the correct spelling. Originally I called them, "person 1, person 2 and person 3" but that became kind of confusing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob

lowjohn

I didn't realise the different tooltips were there. Every group I've been in either skips it or brute forces it: all 5 people took a pedestal to start, and either 1 got it (and everyone converges on them, then spreads out again) or nobody did, so all 5 hit #6 then split up to use all 5 of the #2 possibilities.

Knowing there's only 4 initial possibilities cuts that time down even further!

designedbyrng

Isn't it a 6 item puzzle? You still are finding a 6 item sequence even if they don't force you to interact with the final result.

pitshade

Based on the difference in F interaction ('use hidden switch' vs. 'manipulate pedestal') it is two sequences. One with 4 choices and one with 2.

rjc9000

designedbyrng#4319 said:

Isn't it a 6 item puzzle? You still are finding a 6 item sequence even if they don't force you to interact with the final result.

Yes.

Mr. OCD is falling asleep on the job.

Sharp, pls fix, 0/10 guide without fix for false advertising.

pitshade said:

Based on the difference in F interaction ('use hidden switch' vs. 'manipulate pedestal') it is two sequences. One with 4 choices and one with 2.

You can possibly fail on the last option, making it so you actually interact with 6 items if you're unlucky.

deadlycode

> @thefabricant said:
> In Tomb of the Nine Gods the most commonly skipped puzzle is the puzzle whereby you need to choose 5 items in the correct order, however, this is actually most likely the fastest puzzle out of all 3 of them when done correctly. I will attempt to explain here how to do it properly, in order to promote more parties doing this puzzle.
>
> The objective within the puzzle is to select 5 of the 6 items in the correct order. Some important things to note about the puzzle is the following:
> 1) The position of the 6 items is always the same and is as follows:
> (Spoiler)
>
>
> 2) All 5 players within the party have the same order, but can solve the puzzle independently. Only 1 player needs to get the order right for the puzzle to be complete.
> 3) If you choose something incorrectly, you have to start over, however everyone else attempting the puzzle can continue from wherever they are.
> 4) The First 4 items in the puzzle say use hidden switch:
> (Spoiler)
>
>
> 5) The last 2 items (of which you only need to choose 1) in the order say manipulate pedestal:
> (Spoiler)
>
>
> 6) When someone finds 1 of the items in the sequence, it displays what they found and the position within the order that it is, on the bottom left hand corner of your screen (if you have toggled npc dialogue voices off these do not display, just set your slider for npc voices to 0 like me):
> (Spoiler)
>
>
> As you can see in this example, the Shield was the first part of the sequence.
> 7) Any item you have selected within the current attempt is highlighted in blue, like this:
> (Spoiler)
>
>
> 8) If you fail on the 3rd Hidden Switch in the order, you automatically know the 3rd is the 1 you did not use and the 4th is the 1 you did use.
>
> With all of this in mind, the fastest way to solve the puzzle is as follows:
> 1) 4 people within the party all interact with the items labelled, "Use Hidden Switch." This guarantees that you find the first item in the sequence on the first try. 1 person gets to sit out this step.
>
> 2) The person who gets the first 1 (lets call them Albert), then goes to 1 of the other 3 labelled, "Use Hidden Switch" and tries it. 2 of the other party members (lets call them Jess and Paul) use the 1st item in the order. If Albert gets it right (which happens 1/3rd of the time) it displays on the left and then Jess+Paul know to interact with it (This leads to 3A). If Albert guesses incorrectly, it does not display on the left and Jess+Paul each use 1 of the other 2 labelled, "Use Hidden Switch" which results in 1 of them guaranteed to get the correct one, lets say Jess got it (This leads to 3b).
>
> 3a) In the situation where Albert guesses correctly, he then picks 1 of the other 2 remaining that state, "Use Hidden Switch." If he guesses correctly, you automatically know that the last remaining 1 that states, "Use Hidden Switch" is the 4th as it is the only remaining one that says this. If he guesses incorrectly, you know that the other 1 that says, "Use Hidden Switch" is the 3rd and the 1 he clicked on is the 4th. In which case, Jess+Paul both click on the 3rd and 4th one. Either way, for a continuation of these outcomes, see 4a.
>
> 3b) If Albert Guessed Incorrectly, then Paul and Albert start over, while Jess clicks on 1 of the other 2. If Jess gets it right, she then automatically knows what the 4th 1 is as it is the last remaining 1 that states, "Use Hidden Switch." If Jess gets it wrong, Albert and Paul know the 1 she did not choose is the 3rd and the 1 she did choose is the 4th and they can both choose the correct ones. Either way, for a continuation of these outcomes, see 4b.
>
> 4a) If Albert chose the 4th item correctly, then he guesses 1 of the 2 that says, "manipulate pedestal." If he gets it right, the puzzle is complete. If he gets it wrong, either Jess or Paul click on the 1 he did not click on. If Albert did not choose the 4th item correctly, Jess clicks on 1 item and Paul clicks on the other item and the puzzle is complete.
>
> 4b) If Jess guesses the 3rd and 4th items correctly, then she randomly guesses 1 of the other 2. If she guesses the "Manipulate Pedestal" correctly, then the puzzle is finished. If she gets it wrong, then Paul+Albert know that the item she did not select is the final 1. If Jess failed on the 3rd, then Albert+Paul each guess a different 1 for the 5th and either way the puzzle is complete.
>
> Even if only 2 people do the puzzle however, it can still be done efficiently.
>
> Here is a video example of the puzzle being done:

It is faster to skip than to read the explanations. If you have to explain something with so much detail then count on people to just continue skipping the puzzle

spidey

deadlycode#3788 said:

It is faster to skip than to read the explanations. If you have to explain something with so much detail then count on people to just continue skipping the puzzle

How many times do you think you have to read this explanation? How many times do you think you have to explain this in your guild/FL? Give that explanation to your guild/FL and to ppl you run with.
If everyone knows the solution this is the fastest puzzle in TonG. BTW: If only 2-3 ppl knowing the solution its enough to solve this in 15 secounds.

Thx fabricant for this guide.

muminekm

I also concur. When I'm able to stop our dps from running ahead and skipping puzzle I can do it quickly. It's way faster than doing one of the traps (doesn't matter..stones, pathways or mobs -> it take a lot more time even with great team). Funny that people skip that trap but they're doing "drink potion" one which can take more time. And you don't need long explanation:

"We need to guess the order, first 4 have "hidden switch" in name, last two "manipulate pediestal", I will write current order in chat so follow it"

vixazarahv

Good guide... Simple like learning the alphabet.
Once you learn it, it's easy peasy to do the puzzle.
Even if you have to read through it a couple times to understand it, it still saves tons of time on future runs.

sunshine1

Never done the puzzle and still found it very confusing when reading the guide. So I lost interest in my lazy state at the moment. But 'excellent guide it is'. Thank you.

renestans

Excellent guide. Thank you.