Branded Mount Skin

Thanks for the new skins. For the first time in a while I instantly bought something on the gem store.4 Dye channels and 1600 for the set. Nice

They really are very cool. Nicely done Anet

I`m not happy with them, but not due to looks. I just don't feel its right that we are riding branded. It isn't in any way safe or sensible, or even, surely possible. There has to be some sort of line where the story should affect the in game items and I feel this crosses them pretty severely. Just being close to a branded creature for that long should make everyone in the vicinity sick - they are like a walking mass of radioactive crystal that most folk would smash to bits as soon as they saw it.

At least we killed Balthazar before we "salvaged" his mechanical minions - same with all the other villains in the game when we start getting their armour and kit (eg scarlet)....but we now seem to be in the situation where we are looting our foe before having even overcome them and that sets a new precedent of immersion disregard that leaves me with an uncomfortable feeling I haven't had in my years of enjoying Tyria and its battles.

@chronometria.3708 said:I`m not happy with them, but not due to looks. I just don't feel its right that we are riding branded. It isn't in any way safe or sensible, or even, surely possible. There has to be some sort of line where the story should affect the in game items and I feel this crosses them pretty severely.

Remember the little girl saying she wanted to tame a pretty crystal griffon, and the ogre telling her branded can't be tamed, and the little girl saying maybe they weren't doing it right? Guess the kid was right.

@"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

@chronometria.3708 said:I`m not happy with them, but not due to looks. I just don't feel its right that we are riding branded. It isn't in any way safe or sensible, or even, surely possible. There has to be some sort of line where the story should affect the in game items and I feel this crosses them pretty severely.

This is actually very lore breaking. There's an entire Ascalon story arc (in the Vigil, I beleve?) where the Ogres try to tame the Branded and it turns out very badly, the little conversation in Crystal Oasis was a follow-up to that story arc, after they had learned their lesson.

But now we have people running around on Branded mounts.. games always become like this, $$$ over immersion.

Wasn't Glint technically a branded creature?

@Rubberduckgillespie.9854 said:Wasn't Glint technically a branded creature?

She was a dragon lieutenant - a greater minion with its own intelligence and some degree of free will, like the pale tree. Aureen is in a similar situation and I would have no problems with a rideable aureen. The problem is that these are just generic branded animals, rather than being named things with their own story as Aureen is (and even aureen is apparently barely controllable).

If they did a quest for these animals, or made some sort of magic collar item ....or anything, then we could all be a lot more comfortable, but as it is, its like the idea of the branded and the elder dragon of crystal have just been made a lot less impressive and that damages the game experience as a whole. If we are getting these mounts at all, it should be once the Dragon is dead, or subdued.

Lore breaking indeed.But the solution would be standard mount skins as an option.

Waiting for this.

It's awesome...

Well I'm very happy with them - they're exactly the kind of thing I've been wanting from mount skins since the beginning. Specifically I wanted a set of dyable mounts that aren't obviously tied to a festival/season, aren't overly expensive and aren't obtained by RNG. And this is it.

I'm not too worried about the branded theme because I've seen a few dyed and it's very easy to make them look less like branded and more like they're just spikey versions of the normal mounts. But also I love the look of the branded (it helps that black and purple are two of my favourite colours and I like crystals) and I've always thought it was a shame they were strictly enemies.

Besides we've learned at various points in the story that dragon minions can be removed from their masters control - the Forgotten did it to Glint, the Pact did it to a Risen Chicken, the Pale Tree was either freed from Moredremoth or chose to rebel and many of the sylvari individually resisted his control. Between that and the fact that we've been allied to 3 crystal dragons now I feel like tame branded aren't any more unlikely than tame griffons or raptors.

@chronometria.3708 said:

@Rubberduckgillespie.9854 said:Wasn't Glint technically a branded creature?

As glint is the only dragon minion to ever be freed (save the pale tree, whose freedom and that of her children is still completely unexplained even with an entire expansion dedicated to them) there is no evidence at all that any dragon minion, once freed, would not be just as intelligent as Glint.

In fact the argument is quite easy to make, as, excepting the sylvari, many dragon minions indicate that they are literal extensions of their elder dragon, they are not mind-controlled, but multiple bodies with one mind, the dragons mind, not even having a mind of their own until something gives them one.

This has been on my wish list since the first mount skins were introduced. It might not make sense with the lore but neither does the branded wing glider or branded minis. I don't consider them actual branded though, it's just a skin. Just like if I put the mordrem outfit on my asura, it doesn't turn her into an actual mordrem.

@Hannelore.8153 said:

@"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

@chronometria.3708 said:I`m not happy with them, but not due to looks. I just don't feel its right that we are riding branded. It isn't in any way safe or sensible, or even, surely possible. There has to be some sort of line where the story should affect the in game items and I feel this crosses them pretty severely.

We've got a ritual to purify dragon corruption and a place for it in Arah. :) It's been done at least to Glint and to a random corrupted chicken. And to my new mounts, in my headcanon. ;)

I mean if we can just craft Claw of Khan Ur, riding branded (aka hostile) mounts is to be expected.

Just remember this kids when anyone ever uses immersion as argument about anything. GW2 has no immersion.

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:GW2 has no immersion.

QFT

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:I mean if we can just craft Claw of Khan Ur, riding branded (aka hostile) mounts is to be expected.

Just remember this kids when anyone ever uses immersion as argument about anything. GW2 has no immersion.

Then we need to be worried about this, as the current and perhaps only selling point of the game right now is its story episodes.

@Kako.1930 said:This has been on my wish list since the first mount skins were introduced. It might not make sense with the lore but neither does the branded wing glider or branded minis. I don't consider them actual branded though, it's just a skin. Just like if I put the mordrem outfit on my asura, it doesn't turn her into an actual mordrem.

I think in lore all minis are basically tiny golems or animated sculptures, not actual miniatures creatures or people. So they can look like whatever their creators want them to look like.

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:I mean if we can just craft Claw of Khan Ur, riding branded (aka hostile) mounts is to be expected.

Just remember this kids when anyone ever uses immersion as argument about anything. GW2 has no immersion.

U could theoretically befriend branded creatures much like u did with the mordrem backpiece back in se2

Shut up and take my money! Payday is only 2 days away but it feels sooooooooo far awaaaaaaaaay.

@Danikat.8537 said:

@Kako.1930 said:This has been on my wish list since the first mount skins were introduced. It might not make sense with the lore but neither does the branded wing glider or branded minis. I don't consider them actual branded though, it's just a skin. Just like if I put the mordrem outfit on my asura, it doesn't turn her into an actual mordrem.

Yeah that's kind of how I picture the mounts. Underneath they are still the basic griffons, Springers, jackals, skimmers and raptors but are wearing a sort of outfit to make them look like skeletons or stars or whatever.

@"Kako.1930" said:This has been on my wish list since the first mount skins were introduced. It might not make sense with the lore but neither does the branded wing glider or branded minis. I don't consider them actual branded though, it's just a skin. Just like if I put the mordrem outfit on my asura, it doesn't turn her into an actual mordrem.

Yes ... its not like you're a Ranger "charming" a Branded minion .... this is exactly right

And @Danikat.8537 for the win with her explanation as to why this is totally ok. Thank you for bringing reason to this thread LOL

Its a mesmer illusion your character purchases to disguise his mount. Note that we are buying a branded mount, "skin," not a branded mount.

@Kako.1930 said:This has been on my wish list since the first mount skins were introduced. It might not make sense with the lore but neither does the branded wing glider or branded minis. I don't consider them actual branded though, it's just a skin. Just like if I put the mordrem outfit on my asura, it doesn't turn her into an actual mordrem.

Yep, it doesn't make sense, neither does running around Divinity's Reach or popping in to say hello to the Queen while dressed as a member of the White Mantle. Neither does an Asura with wings or one riding a meteor make sense, for that matter.

Anyway you can easily dye them so they don't look like branded anymore. They still look really good though. :)

So a lot of you are saying the Halloween and Wintersday Mount skins are lore friendly? Look at it this way, it's an item your mount WEARS, a skin over it's skin in essence, like humans wearing clothing and Sylvari wearing plant based outerwear.

@"chronometria.3708" said:I`m not happy with them, but not due to looks. I just don't feel its right that we are riding branded. It isn't in any way safe or sensible, or even, surely possible. There has to be some sort of line where the story should affect the in game items and I feel this crosses them pretty severely. Just being close to a branded creature for that long should make everyone in the vicinity sick - they are like a walking mass of radioactive crystal that most folk would smash to bits as soon as they saw it.

At least we killed Balthazar before we "salvaged" his mechanical minions - same with all the other villains in the game when we start getting their armour and kit (eg scarlet)....but we now seem to be in the situation where we are looting our foe before having even overcome them and that sets a new precedent of immersion disregard that leaves me with an uncomfortable feeling I haven't had in my years of enjoying Tyria and its battles.

Yeah it is little wierd to see ppls raiding branded but in my opinion it's all about the dyes. You can always change corrupted purple for Aurene's/Glint's blue or Vlast green so it looks like you raiding a good mount.