Tier 2ABC: THE "Gold" Puzzle
Tier Overview
After unlocking T1F, the next two tiers became available at the same time, T2ABC and T2DEF. The hunters had a feeling that each of these two tiers would follow a common theme from the puzzles that they were named after. For T2ABC, the main theory was that the password would be somehow related to gold. T1A's password was 1064, which is the melting point of gold in Celsius. T1B's password was LXXIX, and 79 is the atomic number of gold. T1C's password was 5f137s2, and 137 degrees is the golden angle.
The page for T1F was updated, and showed a "LOADING" GIF, with a computer cursor blinking to the right of the word. The hunters assumed that this meant that T2ABC was being prepared, and to wait for further instruction. The GIF was searched for any clues, but none were found.
On September 22nd, the hunters discovered that the "LOADING" GIF had been replaced with a new one, and this time it said "READY," in the same font and style as the first message. It became apparent that the password was ready to be entered, and the hunters did not need any new images or information in order to solve this tier.
- On September 24th, Rob posted NonDesistasNonExieris.gif, a smaller version of the READY GIF with a similar style to the C64 command line. The name of this GIF was in Latin, hinting at the Latin numeral cipher that would be used to find the final password.
- On September 28th, Rob posted an edited version of the "Never Give Up" meme, with the diamonds replaced with gold nuggets. This confirmed the hunter's idea that the password had something to do with gold.
- On October 3rd, Rob responded to messages from community moderator and fellow egg-hunter Kyne:
- Kyne: "Rob, you might need to give the yolks a final nudge"
- Rob: "Final..? I said it before… you ain’t seen nothing yet…"
- Kyne: "Well, perhaps a little nudge then"
- Rob: "OKi, I get your point, I really do… 18/3"
- 18/3 was a clue for the number 6, which was the first part of the cipher for the final password.
- On October 8th, Rob replied to a message from easter egg-hunter Lulz:
- Lulz: "If only we could get Rob to react!"
- Rob: "You can, you just need to write something correct... (I'm just a simple gamemaker, so small things like for example 1779, 34.76, 5.95 would make me react...)"
- These three numbers were related to data for the star system Eta Cassiopeiae, which had the density of gold (19.32) as one of its data values for distance.
- On October 11th, Rob responded to another message from Lulz:
- Lulz: "I looked at this [number of grams in a Troy ounce] earlier but it was before rob gave us the numbers... I was just working with 'exactly one'"
- Rob: "If you really like numbers, here is another interesting number if you ask me: 6000666"
- This series of numbers can be used binary by swapping the 6's as 1's, 1000111 = G again meaning G = 6.
- On October 25th, the day the Open Beta was announced, two more images were posted in the Discord channel for official art.
- "THE_FINALS_Screenshot_015_3840x2160_F" had a scrambled message hidden within the footer, which was never solved.
- "THE_FINALS_Screenshot_019_3840x2160_F" had a few small dots hidden in the characters headwear.
- These dots resembled the form for a G6 guitar chord, hinting at the G = 6 cipher.
- On October 26th, hunter Eoin posted a screenshot of a whiteboard found in Skyway Stadium. A few hours afterwards, hunter Smashel posted a screenshot of a similar whiteboard in the same arena. Both of these whiteboards had a partial red grid with circles on it, and when combined they formed the G6 guitar chord. Also, various dimensions found on the whiteboards were found to be the exact dimensions of the Galaxy G6 smartphone.
- On October 31st, during the Open Beta, Rob posted an image taken from a phone camera. It was a picture of a computer screen that was showing the location of the first White Rabbit that the hunters discovered, confirming it was still present in the current version of the game. The main clue in this image was the keyboard, as the G and 6 keys had been swapped.
Solving
On November 17th, hunters fanclubfm and R.Cade solved the password, "viold" and unlocked the tier. This tier took 56 days to solve.
Summary
T2ABC was a tier that connected the answers of T1A, T1B, and T1C which were all related to gold. The cipher G = 6 was hinted at multiple times, and a few clues were given in Latin, hinting at the Roman numeral part of the password. The leetspeak cipher and the Roman numeral cipher were also present in the previous tiers.
Therefore "gold" --> "6old" --> "viold"
Images
Loading.gif
Ready.gif
NonDesistasNonExieris.gif
Rob's edited image
THE FINALS Screenshot 015 3840x2160 F.jpg
THE FINALS Screenshot 019 3840x2160 F.jpg
Whiteboard 1 in Skyway Stadium
Whiteboard 2 in Skyway Stadium
Photo of the first WR
Credits
Solver(s) - fanclubfm, R.Cade
Documentation - Kyne, Lulz, Smashel
Various Contributions in Alphabetical Order - Annetteqc, aspentheavali, b0kb, BernieBoy, Brubru, Carl, Duh, eoin, fanclubfm, fishxw, Flex4d, Gattsta, HollowMooth, iTk, Janst1000, joshnut, KACZIII, Kyne, Lime, Lulz, Merv, Miiike, R.Cade, RockhoundBlack, Serpenger, Smashel, Wig, 김스윙