Lounges - What for?

What are lounges good for? Are they better than city (let's say... Lion's Arch) . How do they differ? Is there something more in lounges not accessible from a public city?

They offer convenience. They cram all the vendors, crafting, etc into a small space. I have the Divinity Reach pass, which is convenient to get to a good home instance plus DR activities, and the Mist Sanctuary, which returns you to your open-world location when you exit. Not all of them do that, so if that is your desired functionality, research first.

They don't offer any services or functions which aren't available elsewhere. There are sometimes minor fun things, like the Mistlock Sanctuary has a low gravity mode and the Armistice Bastion has a jumping puzzle without a chest.

The main appeal is just convinience. You get an item which will teleport you there for free from anywhere and they have all the same basic services the main cities do but often in a smaller area which makes it quicker to go around them. Some of them will also let you teleport back to where you were, but that's only the ones that aren't in open-world locations.

Many of them have extra services only found in certain places, which vary depending on the lounge. For example Mistlock Sanctuary has Fractals merchants from the Fractal lobby, but in the same map as the bank, TP, normal merchants etc. and the Amistice Bastion has WvW merchants, in a map where your participation doesn't drop. You can find out what each one has on the Wiki.

To add on to what Danikat said, lounges (usually) load faster than LA does, either because the map is smaller or because the lounge is in a less populated part of the game. I think the only exception to this is the Lily of Elon which falls victim to PoF load times. (Though it also lets you bypass the story to get characters into PoF maps if you're not in a guild that has the PoF guild hall)

Really, lounges are just QoL and flavour items at their core and you can survive just fine by using LA and Obsidian Sanctum. But once you're used to every crafting station being <1 second away from each other and 1 second away from the TP, it's really hard to go back. So I guess you could say that lounge passes end up letting you spend more time playing the game because you don't have to wait for loading screens or deal with running back and forth in LA at the bare minimum.

(Also at least in Mistlock, less repetitive NPC chatter. It's been years but an asura talking about how ideas are like cream still drives me into a rage because of the one NPC that was stationed too close to the bank in old LA so was constantly saying her line as people used the bank.)

@"Zephire.8049" said:(Also at least in Mistlock, less repetitive NPC chatter. It's been years but an asura talking about how ideas are like cream still drives me into a rage because of the one NPC that was stationed too close to the bank in old LA so was constantly saying her line as people used the bank.)

"I know your face from my dream!""Seek and you shall find!""Sieze the moment!""More violets i say, less violence!"

I started using the WvW banker just to stop hearing that hahhahahah!

But, @"JesterX.6730" , if you want a "lounge" like experience but without the crafting stuff and the like, just go to WvW, any map. Every spawn has merchants, bank and trading post access. Plus, when you exit, you get back to exactly where you were. You don't have to teleport anywhere like you would if you're in a town. Just make sure you exit through the interface, not through the Lion's Arch portal in game.

@Veprovina.4876 said:

@"Zephire.8049" said:(Also at least in Mistlock, less repetitive NPC chatter. It's been years but an asura talking about how ideas are like cream still drives me into a rage because of the one NPC that was stationed too close to the bank in old LA so was constantly saying her line as people used the bank.)

The Heart of the Mists (PvP lobby) is probably a better choice than WvW because then there's no chance of a queue or taking up space someone needs to play. Otherwise it's the same, you've got all the basic services and can get there instantly from any map then go back where you were via the interface.

@Danikat.8537 said:

@Veprovina.4876 said:

@"Zephire.8049" said:(Also at least in Mistlock, less repetitive NPC chatter. It's been years but an asura talking about how ideas are like cream still drives me into a rage because of the one NPC that was stationed too close to the bank in old LA so was constantly saying her line as people used the bank.)

True! WvW has a chance of queues, but i never play PvP so i often forget that's the option as well haha. :smile:

Mistlock Sanctuary will always be the best one. It is in the middle of the world map for most WPs, gives you access to all of the Fractal vendors, and when you use the item again it puts you back where you were in the overworld.

Others explained a lot already. Personally I would not buy a lounge passe. Got one from buying the deluxe PoF for the Lily of Elon. And never used it. I only do my daily routin starting in LA. Moving to home instance. Then playing the game and parking the char back then in LA.

I could use the lounge pass to save waypoint money a bit. Still inconvenient for most of the time I do not need to go to Amnoon directly. (Would take more of my time.) I could try to park the char at the lounge ... at the end of the day. Instead of LA. But I'm too used to LA. And the mounts make it pretty fast to move between bank, mystic forge and crafting area. Then I do not craft that much. (Usually in batches. At the beginning/end of the day.) So the lounge would not save me that much money.

Fractal vendors in the one (as explained by others) must be good ... if there is mystic forge as well. (The only thing I miss from the fractal lobby ... for attuning befor salvaging.)

@Eloc Freidon.5692 said:Mistlock Sanctuary will always be the best one. It is in the middle of the world map for most WPs, gives you access to all of the Fractal vendors, and when you use the item again it puts you back where you were in the overworld.

@Eloc Freidon.5692 said:Mistlock Sanctuary will always be the best one. It is in the middle of the world map for most WPs, gives you access to all of the Fractal vendors, and when you use the item again it puts you back where you were in the overworld.

I was so disappointed when I bought the Ultra Pack for POF and in LOP the fractal additions are missing ...

So I also advise everyone who wants something like this to buy the Sanctuary Pass. All the others are just downgraded LA.However, I am someone who only uses the pass. It's nice to have everything close together and I like the aesthetics. Also, in LOP I never had the case that someone put their fun boxes in vendors or something while I experience that in LA all the time xx.

It depends on what you like doing. I much prefer the Amistice Bastion to Mistlock Sanctuary, because it has the same function of letting you go back where you were and I play WvW a lot more than Fractals so those merchants are more useful to me (especially since I can access them without my participation dropping). But it took me a long time to decide it was worth getting, and it was only because I was able to convert gold for the gems, otherwise I've always thought they're too expensive for what you get.

I've also got the Lily of the Elon pass, which I still use as well. Which one I go to depends on what I want and to some extent whether I feel like desert or snowy mountain scenery.

Even the ones with no extra features like Havoc's Heir or Nobles Folly have their fans, people who say they prefer the layout or find the location useful. I wouldn't go for those ones personally but I suppose it depends on what you want from a pass/town.

@Veprovina.4876 said:

@"Zephire.8049" said:(Also at least in Mistlock, less repetitive NPC chatter. It's been years but an asura talking about how ideas are like cream still drives me into a rage because of the one NPC that was stationed too close to the bank in old LA so was constantly saying her line as people used the bank.)

Yet no crafting stations.

@Strider Pj.2193 said:

@Veprovina.4876 said:

@"Zephire.8049" said:(Also at least in Mistlock, less repetitive NPC chatter. It's been years but an asura talking about how ideas are like cream still drives me into a rage because of the one NPC that was stationed too close to the bank in old LA so was constantly saying her line as people used the bank.)

Yeah, as i said, without the crafting stuff.Kinda like "demo lounges" lol. You get the "full version" when you buy a lounge with crafting stations and stuff, and in the meantime you "try out" the simmilar maps.

@Veprovina.4876 said:

@"Zephire.8049" said:(Also at least in Mistlock, less repetitive NPC chatter. It's been years but an asura talking about how ideas are like cream still drives me into a rage because of the one NPC that was stationed too close to the bank in old LA so was constantly saying her line as people used the bank.)

Fair! The sylvari NPC VA is easier ignore than the asura one in my opinion so those bug me far less, but it definitely comes down to what you can deal with.

But all the NPCs (minus crafting stations) being added to Obsidian Sanctum was such a good move and I definitely use OS only a bit less often than Mistlock, though OS > Mistlock for toons that are in farm spots.

Avoid buying Lily, it is the worst. It has no home access, no return functionality, PoF long load time.All but two are then in the same tier: they exist, and things there are kinda nearby.Royal Terrace has a good home instance nearby. Mistlock has return function. If you can choose, choose one of those.