Ad labs feature request... remove 'sequential order' as an option

[+Boomshanka]

I'm sure this has been raised before... but... I've tried 1 AL and 3 ALs in a short trip to France and Belgium this week so far, they have been set to 'Play locations in sequential order'. This is so frustrating a) because in a city with numerous ALs, you have to backtrack and b) I was visiting with family and I just wanted to do a couple of the stages close to where we were heading rather than driving to the start. I also had another where the first stage was cordoned off, which meant I couldn't progress to the other stages. None of these had any logic (to my mind) that needed to be sequential. Can Groundspeak just switch that option off? Thanks for listening/reading.

[+Max and 99]

10 minutes ago, Boomshanka said:

I'm sure this has been raised before... but... I've tried 1 AL and 3 ALs in a short trip to France and Belgium this week so far, they have been set to 'Play locations in sequential order'. This is so frustrating a) because in a city with numerous ALs, you have to backtrack and b) I was visiting with family and I just wanted to do a couple of the stages close to where we were heading rather than driving to the start. I also had another where the first stage was cordoned off, which meant I couldn't progress to the other stages. None of these had any logic (to my mind) that needed to be sequential. Can Groundspeak just switch that option off? Thanks for listening/reading.

My only sequential AL follows a story. It wouldn't make any sense otherwise.

[+Lynx Humble]

2 hours ago, Boomshanka said:

I'm sure this has been raised before... 

Multiple times:

I agree linear AL should be banned. Too many cons for the little pros.

[+Max and 99]

I don't disagree, and I'll never do another sequential AL. But I like the one I have. 

Edited October 26, 2021 by Max and 99

[+barefootjeff]

The default setting when creating a new AL is non-sequential so anyone making a sequential one is doing so intentionally. If the only reason for doing that is to reveal the bonus coordinates when the final stage is completed, perhaps that's the issue that really needs to be addressed. Maybe there should be an optional extra page that appears when all the stages have been completed, regardless of the order they're done in. But given the apparent loss of interest in ALs by HQ, I can't see that happening.

 

There are some ALs that tell a story which only makes sense if done in the correct order, so I wouldn't like to see sequential banned outright, unless of course the goal for doing ALs shifts from the experience to just rapid-fire accumulation of smileys.

[+Max and 99]

3 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

The default setting when creating a new AL is non-sequential so anyone making a sequential one is doing so intentionally. If the only reason for doing that is to reveal the bonus coordinates when the final stage is completed, perhaps that's the issue that really needs to be addressed. Maybe there should be an optional extra page that appears when all the stages have been completed, regardless of the order they're done in. But given the apparent loss of interest in ALs by HQ, I can't see that happening.

 

There are some ALs that tell a story which only makes sense if done in the correct order, so I wouldn't like to see sequential banned outright, unless of course the goal for doing ALs shifts from the experience to just rapid-fire accumulation of smileys.

In agreement.

[+thebruce0]

Also agreement. My only AL is a story-based linear adventure.

[+dprovan]

6 hours ago, Boomshanka said:

None of these had any logic (to my mind) that needed to be sequential.

So that's a problem with the AL, right? Why are you claiming it's a problem with the design of ALs in general? There's an AL that I haven't been able to do because the first stage is in a museum that's been closed both times I was there. I complained to the AL's creator, not to GS. He brushed me off, but that's still not GS's problem.

 

As much as I agree that AL ordering can be done wrong, even abused, I still have to say that using ordering to make the seeker's job harder isn't morally any different that hiding a geocache in a despicably evil way. I don't like caches that are intentionally hidden in a way that makes it impossible for me to find them, but that doesn't mean I think they shouldn't be allowed.

[+barefootjeff]

8 hours ago, dprovan said:

As much as I agree that AL ordering can be done wrong, even abused, I still have to say that using ordering to make the seeker's job harder isn't morally any different that hiding a geocache in a despicably evil way. I don't like caches that are intentionally hidden in a way that makes it impossible for me to find them, but that doesn't mean I think they shouldn't be allowed.

 

Yes, there are plenty of multis where the waypoints have to be found in a particular order, with each one providing the coordinates for the next. There's a 5-stage multi I did early in my caching career where the waypoints were on alternating sides of a steep 50-metre high ridge. The final was on top of the ridge but further along. I said in my log that I'd probably be climbing up and down steps in my dreams that night.

[+Boomshanka]

On 10/26/2021 at 8:32 PM, Max and 99 said:

My only sequential AL follows a story. It wouldn't make any sense otherwise.

I originally set one of my ALs to sequential as it followed a story but then just changed each stage name to start with 1. 2. 3. etc and took sequential off. That way, those that want to follow the intended order can, those that don't want to (or want to pick up other caches along the way) can decide their own order.

One lab in Lille that I attempted today was a 10 stage lab, set sequentially but it zig-zagged all over town, sometimes a Km between stages and then back and back again! Absolutely no logic or point to being sequential. I gave up after 5 stages as being a tourist, time is short!

 

Perhaps as an interim measure, there should be a pop-up window that appears if the lab owner sets it to sequential to double check they really need to and know the consequences of doing so.

[+Max and 99]

1 hour ago, Boomshanka said:

I originally set one of my ALs to sequential as it followed a story but then just changed each stage name to start with 1. 2. 3. etc and took sequential off. That way, those that want to follow the intended order can, those that don't want to (or want to pick up other caches along the way) can decide their own order.

One lab in Lille that I attempted today was a 10 stage lab, set sequentially but it zig-zagged all over town, sometimes a Km between stages and then back and back again! Absolutely no logic or point to being sequential. I gave up after 5 stages as being a tourist, time is short!

 

Perhaps as an interim measure, there should be a pop-up window that appears if the lab owner sets it to sequential to double check they really need to and know the consequences of doing so.

I'm with you on some of this. As a tourist I have also done an adventure lab that did so much backtracking and was a terrible waste of my time!!

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Max and 99

[+fizzymagic]

On 10/26/2021 at 3:32 PM, Max and 99 said:

I don't disagree, and I'll never do another sequential AL. But I like the one I have. 

 

Then maybe you could suggest to the finder that sequential access would make the most sense, rather than enforcing it?

 

I would get rid of sequential ALs entirely.  My only experience with them has been COs who seem to be control freaks.

Edited October 31, 2021 by fizzymagic

[+barefootjeff]

31 minutes ago, fizzymagic said:

I would get rid of sequential ALs entirely.  My only experience with them has been COs who seem to be control freaks.

 

Would you also get rid of multis where each stage reveals the coordinates of the next? Are their owners also control freaks? I own such a multi (GC664DZ) that starts in the embers of a campfire, with the story of the lost sheriff unfolding at each location, building up tension until the final reveal of his fate at GZ. It's had 20 finds with 11 FPs and no-one has complained (to me anyway) about having to visit the waypoints in a specific order.

 

One of the early ALs I did, back when they first started appearing locally last year, had a similar structure with its story (a clever piece of political satire) unfolding at each themed location. It simply wouldn't have made sense if done in random order.

 

Well, okay, if the player's goal is simply to accumulate smileys, they could say they don't care about stories and should be able to do them in whatever order they want, or in the case of the multi, be able see the final's coordinates so they can just sign the log without having to visit any of those pesky waypoints.

[+Max and 99]

12 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

Would you also get rid of multis where each stage reveals the coordinates of the next? Are their owners also control freaks?

 

12 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

Well, okay, if the player's goal is simply to accumulate smileys, they could say they don't care about stories and should be able to do them in whatever order they want, or in the case of the multi, be able see the final's coordinates so they can just sign the log without having to visit any of those pesky waypoints

I was just about to make the same points. 

+1

[+Goldenwattle]

As someone stuck at home caring for my mother, I would love to have more ALs not locked into a set order. Many could be done in any order. I can't go out far, and so I need quick finds near me. I notice several ALs have WPs in a short cycle ride from home, but to do them I need first to traipse across town to find the first ones, which at present is hard for me to do. They would provide a break, but I think I have completed all the WPs I can get to in a short time that are in my area, without the need to do distant WPs first. Also cleaned out most, likely all, except one cache too, and I think that one's a tree climb and out of reach for me.

If anyone from Canberra is looking for cache placement ideas, put some in the eastern suburbs of south Canberra (Symonston, Narrabundah, eastern Kingston, Griffith, south-western Fyshwick areas.) No tree climbs or caches that take too long.

Missing caching :(

[+barefootjeff]

1 hour ago, Goldenwattle said:

As someone stuck at home caring for my mother, I would love to have more ALs not locked into a set order. Many could be done in any order. I can't go out far, and so I need quick finds near me. I notice several ALs have WPs in a short cycle ride from home, but to do them I need first to traipse across town to find the first ones, which at present is hard for me to do. They would provide a break, but I think I have completed all the WPs I can get to in a short time that are in my area, without the need to do distant WPs first. Also cleaned out most, likely all, except one cache too, and I think that one's a tree climb and out of reach for me.

 

Of the eight ALs on the Central Coast, five are short walks (less than 1km) although some driving is needed to get to the bonus caches of three of them. One, Brisbane Water Explorer, goes from Gosford south to Woy Woy along the western shore and can be done either by car or bicycle along the off-road bike path. That one is also sequential, with the bonus coordinates revealed in the last stage's journal entry. My two down the bottom of the map are both long walks although Broken Bay Sands could be done by bike or car.

 

 

The ones at Toukley and Somersby are also sequential, again with bonus coordinates revealed in the final journal. The Toukley one is the story-telling one I mentioned earlier and the Somersby one is a short walk from the car park down flights of steps past a series of waterfalls and I guess is sequential because there's really no other order in which the locations could be visited (you can't physically access the later ones without going past the earlier ones). All the others, from memory, are non-sequential, and those with bonus caches (all but one) have the coordinates revealed piecemeal in each journal entry.

 

1 hour ago, Goldenwattle said:

Missing caching

 

Me too, although slowly getting back into it now that the lockdown's over. From tomorrow I'll be able to travel north of the Central Coast and there's about ten up that way I have on my post-lockdown to-do list. As for ALs, it's deathly quiet here, all the ones in the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle regions are from last year and I've almost forgotten what it's like to do one. I don't know whether the new AL notification on my phone still works as there hasn't been one since last December.

Edited October 31, 2021 by barefootjeff

[+Goldenwattle]

7 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

 

Of the eight ALs on the Central Coast, five are short walks (less than 1km) although some driving is needed to get to the bonus caches of three of them. One, Brisbane Water Explorer, goes from Gosford south to Woy Woy along the western shore and can be done either by car or bicycle along the off-road bike path. That one is also sequential, with the bonus coordinates revealed in the last stage's journal entry. My two down the bottom of the map are both long walks although Broken Bay Sands could be done by bike or car.

 

 

The ones at Toukley and Somersby are also sequential, again with bonus coordinates revealed in the final journal. The Toukley one is the story-telling one I mentioned earlier and the Somersby one is a short walk from the car park down flights of steps past a series of waterfalls and I guess is sequential because there's really no other order in which the locations could be visited (you can't physically access the later ones without going past the earlier ones). All the others, from memory, are non-sequential, and those with bonus caches (all but one) have the coordinates revealed piecemeal in each journal entry.

 

 

Me too, although slowly getting back into it now that the lockdown's over. From tomorrow I'll be able to travel north of the Central Coast and there's about ten up that way I have on my post-lockdown to-do list. As for ALs, it's deathly quiet here, all the ones in the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle regions are from last year and I've almost forgotten what it's like to do one. I don't know whether the new AL notification on my phone still works as there hasn't been one since last December.

Really the longest I should be away from home is half an hour. My mother needs a lot of care.

[+barefootjeff]

2 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

Really the longest I should be away from home is half an hour. My mother needs a lot of care.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. My own Broken Bay Sands one is the only one I could do within half an hour of home and only if I did it by car. Even by bike it'd probably be the best part of an hour.

[+Goldenwattle]

3 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

 

I'm sorry to hear that. My own Broken Bay Sands one is the only one I could do within half an hour of home and only if I did it by car. Even by bike it'd probably be the best part of an hour.

I like to be able to walk or cycle for the exercise. A car defeats the purpose of going out when I have so little time.

(I'm not a stay at home type person.)

[+Max and 99]

With the new adventure lab version there is no missing if it's a sequential adventure. They state it quite clearly. 

[+igator210]

No. Don't remove it. Some Lab Caches I've done are a journey through history. There is a reason they are sequential.

[+Max and 99]

I did an adventure lab today that was sequential. We parked near the first location and went through all five in order. To get to the bonus we had to backtrack another block, then backtrack again to get back to stage one where we parked. I can't imagine why this was listed as sequential instead of a recommended order. 

[+barefootjeff]

You can never please everyone. I just got this log on my bonus cache complaining about the AL not being sequential:

 

[+Max and 99]

Oh that's funny! 

[+dprovan]

1 hour ago, barefootjeff said:

You can never please everyone. I just got this log on my bonus cache complaining about the AL not being sequential:

Is that a complaint?

[+barefootjeff]

8 minutes ago, dprovan said:

Is that a complaint?

 

Well he said he's annoyed that it's not sequential and he had to travel all the way from where he finished to where the bonus is, so yes, I take that as a complaint. Not sure what I can do about it, though, as the bonus can't be close to every location.

[+barefootjeff]

5 minutes ago, HHL said:

Either mention the nearest lab station to the bonus cache in the adventure's description or in the LabCache Bonus' description.

 

Hans

 

The AL's description says the bonus is at Umina Point, but you have to tap the Read More thing to see it now.

 

Edit to add: The description in the bonus also says much the same thing:

 

Quote

The Adventure explores the shoreline sands at Ettalong Beach, Half Tide Rocks, Ocean Beach, Umina Beach and finally at the Umina Point headland where this bonus cache is hidden nearby.

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by barefootjeff

[+barefootjeff]

1 minute ago, HHL said:

Then there is really nothing to complain about.

 

Except the weather, which I'm surprised he didn't mention as it's been prettty horrible all week.

[+dprovan]

16 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

Well he said he's annoyed that it's not sequential and he had to travel all the way from where he finished to where the bonus is, so yes, I take that as a complaint. Not sure what I can do about it, though, as the bonus can't be close to every location.

But he also said he would be annoyed if it *were* sequential, so I took it more as a comment about himself than a complaint about the adventure. You can consider it negative if you really want to, but when he comes out and admits he'd be just as annoyed no matter which way you did it, I have a hard time thinking he didn't enjoy the cache. Would you call it a complaint if someone posted "I get really annoyed when it takes me 20 minutes to find the cache and then it turns out it was obvious"?

 

Even if it really was a complaint, I'd still take it to be an attempt at humor since he's complaining even though there's nothing you could have done that wouldn't have annoyed him.

 

15 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

Except the weather, which I'm surprised he didn't mention as it's been prettty horrible all week.

If he'd mentioned the bad weather, would you have thought he was complaining about the adventure?

[+Max and 99]

The way I read the log, he is annoyed that this time it was not sequential. 

[+barefootjeff]

14 minutes ago, dprovan said:

If he'd mentioned the bad weather, would you have thought he was complaining about the adventure?

 

No, because the weather isn't something I designed into the AL or bonus, but the sequential/non-sequential setting is and he made it pretty clear he found my choice of that annoying.

[+dprovan]

On 12/11/2021 at 5:15 PM, barefootjeff said:

No, because the weather isn't something I designed into the AL or bonus, but the sequential/non-sequential setting is and he made it pretty clear he found my choice of that annoying.

OK. It's up to you if you want to view it as a negative. When someone admits that, even though he found your choice annoying, he would have also found the other possible choice equally annoying, I can't see it as a comment on your design choice. I would take it as a comment on his own foibles, something you're no more responsible for than the weather.

[+longwhatton34]

It can be annoying to have locations in a set order but one of mine is along a river and the set order means you have something to do on the way back after collecting the bonus. There are no other caches along that stretch.

[+Willis007]

Hi. I have accidentally just changed my AL to sequential which is how I originally had it. Now I want to turn it back to non-sequential however when I save it's not changing back. Is there a time period I need to wait?

[+Jayeffel]

My AL is sequential simply because it follows a major highway for 10-15 miles from start to finish; would be a  lot of backtracking otherwise. And the bonus I did have to backtrack some simply for two reasons. First, another cacher was going to put his series of an AL going west from where I ended, and secondly there was already a traditional cache too close to my final AL stage. It is a ten stage AL part of the Lincoln Highway Series. And cacher needs to be at each stage to find the answer to find the bonus. One stage I expected complaints due to locating the information to answer the question, but received none yet.

 

Yes, if a cacher travels the route the way the AL stages are laid out okay, just back track a bit for the bonus. But if they come from the other direction, they need to go past all to get to the first to begin. But then they are headed home that way!

[+Max and 99]

On 12/20/2021 at 9:41 PM, Willis007 said:

Hi. I have accidentally just changed my AL to sequential which is how I originally had it. Now I want to turn it back to non-sequential however when I save it's not changing back. Is there a time period I need to wait?

I do not think there's any wait period.

[+baer2006]

8 hours ago, Jayeffel said:

My AL is sequential simply because it follows a major highway for 10-15 miles from start to finish; would be a  lot of backtracking otherwise. And the bonus I did have to backtrack some simply for two reasons. First, another cacher was going to put his series of an AL going west from where I ended, and secondly there was already a traditional cache too close to my final AL stage. It is a ten stage AL part of the Lincoln Highway Series. And cacher needs to be at each stage to find the answer to find the bonus. One stage I expected complaints due to locating the information to answer the question, but received none yet.

 

Yes, if a cacher travels the route the way the AL stages are laid out okay, just back track a bit for the bonus. But if they come from the other direction, they need to go past all to get to the first to begin. But then they are headed home that way!

What's wrong with not setting the AL to "sequential", and instead adding a clear statement in the description of the AL (and the bonus cache itself) that the bonus is close to stage <you-name-it>? This way, everyone knows what to expect, but cachers are still free to do the AL in the other direction, if they want to.

[+VeganHiker]

I would like all ALs to be non-sequential as well.  I attempted to begin an AL last week and found a car that was up on cinder blocks with its tires/license plate stolen  I did not feel safe parking in this lot so I did not start the AL.  If they were non-sequential I could have moved on to the other four stages.  Hopefully, they would have been safer to go after!

[+Mausebiber]

On 1/1/2022 at 6:38 AM, VeganHiker said:

 I did not feel safe parking in this lot so I did not start the AL.

 

Why didn't you just park in a different location near by?

 

[+dprovan]

On 12/31/2021 at 9:38 PM, VeganHiker said:

I would like all ALs to be non-sequential as well.  I attempted to begin an AL last week and found a car that was up on cinder blocks with its tires/license plate stolen  I did not feel safe parking in this lot so I did not start the AL.  If they were non-sequential I could have moved on to the other four stages.  Hopefully, they would have been safer to go after!

I'd just look at it as a multi. Hopefully you wouldn't say multis shouldn't be allowed to be sequential because a car might happen to be dumped at the starting location.

 

1 hour ago, Mausebiber said:

Why didn't you just park in a different location near by?

I can't answer for VeganHiker, but I can imagine that seeing a dumped car would make one not want to be in that neighborhood at all, whether it was for parking or not. I.e., not so much "I don't want to park here" as "I'm driving away and never ever coming back." Personally, I probably would hardly have noticed the car and wouldn't have drawn a conclusion from it about the area, but I understand people that are more sensitive to such things.

[+liberal giraffe]

I came on here for a different reason but this topic is one I can't avoid! I have a story based Ad Lab that is sequential, it wouldn't work in any order or the story wouldn't work. You don't have to do it at all if you don't want to and that's fine. I know some people who have really appreciated having something a bit different. Like a fiendish puzzle or 15 stage multi you can pick and choose what you want to do but there's absolutely no need to dictate how others play the game.

[+obelix71]

I have regularly run an AL where there was no bonus. However, there was a set sequence. I don't understand that. Also regularly walked an AL where I got it back and forth. And I really wonder what's behind that. Especially if there is no bonus ...

[+barefootjeff]

On 4/28/2022 at 6:12 AM, obelix71 said:

I have regularly run an AL where there was no bonus. However, there was a set sequence. I don't understand that. Also regularly walked an AL where I got it back and forth. And I really wonder what's behind that. Especially if there is no bonus ...

 

Some of the sequential ones I've seen that weren't bonus-related have had other reasons for being sequential. It might be because the AL told a story that only made sense in a particular order, or the location was such that it wasn't possible to do it in any other way. An example of the latter is one that's set along a trail from the car park down a series of waterfalls; the trail ends at the bottom falls and the only access is from the car park so you really have to start from there and finish at the bottom.

 

There was a location I was contemplating for an AL which is a loop track down one side of a gully, across a suspension bridge at the bottom and back up the other side. It was going to have a couple of locations down each side as well as one at the bottom.

 

 

I really didn't want to make it sequential as there's no good reason to favour one direction over the other, but the problem with making it non-sequential is that, after each location is completed, the app automatically moves on to the next nearest one which, in this case, would likely be on the opposite side of the gully. The gully is only safely crossable at the top and the bottom so I really didn't want that to happen and in the end I abandoned it mainly for that reason, though that was probably just as well as the loop is now closed indefinitely following severe rain damage last month.

 

The default setting is non-sequential so any owner setting it to sequential probably had a reason for doing that, even if it's not obvious to someone in the field. I once had someone complain about one of mine being non-sequential because he started from the end where the bonus is and had to go all the way back to it after finishing the AL. Sometimes whatever you do is wrong for someone.

[+JL_HSTRE]

Currently the options are sequential or unordered. It would be nice if either a third option was added for suggested order or sequential order didn't block progress to subsequent stages. In other words, the stages would be numbered in the app and the app always defaults to the next sequential stage, but the user could switch to another stage or skip a stage.

[+CAVinoGal]

23 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

Sometimes whatever you do is wrong for someone.

 

How true, how true.  Sequential, non-sequential, bonus or no bonus, it's too short, it's too long, it was easy, it was hard - some cachers just like to complain!  I had fun puttingmy Adventure together, most logs indicate people have enjoyed it.  I'm good.

[+obelix71]

On 5/2/2022 at 5:45 AM, barefootjeff said:

 

Some of the sequential ones I've seen that weren't bonus-related have had other reasons for being sequential. It might be because the AL told a story that only made sense in a particular order, or the location was such that it wasn't possible to do it in any other way.

There are always reasons why it does make sense to make an AL in a fixed order. In that case, I don't have a problem with it either. But there is not always that reason. Made an 80 km bike ride for a 40 km AL. I lived halfway along the route, but because it had a fixed order, I had to go to the beginning first. There appeared to be no connection between the locations. And the route could be started anywhere in principle. Sure, you could also choose not to go. I just think it's a shame that an in itself beautiful route is so "limited" by 1 starting point.

 

[+lee737]

I have one, it is sequential really just to make the bonus easier to administer (this seemed to be the done thing when I made it).... it does follow a sensible walking order in a small town with no other caches (only its bonus!) or ALs, so, although I've thought of changing it out, it would not serve much use.... We don't have enough ALs around here to get tangled up with backtracking in any case....

[+thebruce0]

7 hours ago, obelix71 said:

Sure, you could also choose not to go. I just think it's a shame that an in itself beautiful route is so "limited" by 1 starting point.

 

Another option is just do individual stages when it's convenient. You can "ignore" it until you're near the next stage you need, then grab it. Don't make any significant detours just to complete it.

Or you could contact/complain to the owner and request they make is non-sequential

[+Hynz]

23 hours ago, obelix71 said:

Made an 80 km bike ride for a 40 km AL. I lived halfway along the route, but because it had a fixed order, I had to go to the beginning first.

Considering that you want to make the AL in one go it would be completely irrelevant if you lived at the beginning, at the end or if the LA would not be sequential. You always had to travel roughly twice the summarized distance of the stages.

 

[+baer2006]

I'm not saying, that GS should remove the option for sequential ALs (as is suggested by the thread title). However, I'd really prefer that owners don't create sequential ALs "because they can". I'm going to give a specific example ...

 

A few weeks ago, my family and I spent a week in Rome. Lots of sightseeing ! Geocaching was clearly only the 2nd priority, but whenever we were conveniently close to a cache, I gave it a quick go (with mixed results ). So far, so good, with traditional geocaches. But there are also lots of ALs in Rome, and it turned out that most of them are sequential. This often led to this situation: We are at an interesting spot, and on a hunch I open the app to check if any nearby ALs have a location at that spot. I find out that yes, we are at an AL stage (a.k.a. Lab Cache), but it's number n (n > 1) of a sequential AL . And the topic and description of the AL shows no indication whatsoever, that there is a good reason to make it sequential.

 

As I understand it, a big plus of Lab Caches is that you can place a "geocache" at locations were it's difficult or impossible to place a physical cache. In principle, this advantage was put to good use by the AL owners in Rome - lots of Lab Caches at touristic spots. But making most of the ALs sequential totally devalued this for me.