Trying to get back into grinding Mastery Points - Nope Failed Again - I Won't Give Up

I started following the story again recently with my Raptor, got all the way up to the cliff I need to jump across for the Springer, but need more Mastery Points for the Raptor Jumping.All I really cared about doing was the main story, but needing to finish achievments and god knows what else is wracking my brain. I had this problem trying to get Hero points, but these days if I need hero points for any new characters I make, I just follow one of the trains that people form for the new characters that don't have anything, but the basic glider.

I feel like this is what the game is relegated to for new and returning players. There's just too much extra nonsense from achievments and masteries that are required to play through the story. I suffer from severe depression and it kicks up during these moments when I'm trying to do basic stuff like the storyline. Getting back to just wandering around Tyria ( the places that I can wander around ) and doing open-world events and such, really helps me relax again and get back into the groove of just enjoying what the game can offer me. I can't see myself finishing the storyline or ever really getting a springer mount within the next year. Pretty sure I'll get it eventually, but it'll be from me just running around doing whatever's going on where I'm at.

This reminds me of what I love about games like this, there's not much of a time limit on them and some of the things I didn't see myself getting anytime soon, came along in due time, like obtaining Twilight for my Necro, which also came along eventually at level 80 and stacked on hero points for elite skills. Woo!

I'm not too sure where I was going with this, I guess I'm just trying to get this frustration and then rationalization out of my head and onto something tangible, like a computer screen. Perhaps this post can prove to be inspirational for the folks out there that are so casual they can't see themselves achieving some of those cool things we see other players running around with : ). All in good time I say, I'm feeling better typing this up. Thanks for reading!

PoF has pretty easy mastery points, unlike HoT. You pretty much fall over them exploring the map.

(Achi) Pahans Memory Game (A Trip Down Memory Lane, has a map icon)(Achi)Pot of Soup (Just a Sip, has a map icon)Amnoon Bazaar Insight (has Map Icon)Old Amnoon Insight ( has Map Icon)(Achi) Reins of the Raptor, requires basic raptor and to do the Hearts in COCO Bounty Tour (3 bounties, 1 from each board location)

That's 6 right there, all in Crystal Oasis, none requiring more than the basic raptor. It’s not as difficult as you think.

@Hesacon.8735 said:PoF has pretty easy mastery points, unlike HoT. You pretty much fall over them exploring the map.

It's when I come across Mastery Points and struggle to figure out how to use what I have to get them that I get frustrated, I like to try figuring all these things out on my own without using a 3rd party site. I've given in a few times, but those times I did give in were mostly hero point related so that I could enjoy my characters with all their skills available. As you say though, exploration over time helps for obtaining them. It won't be today, tomorrow, or a year from now, but I'll still be here hanging around doing random stuff : )

@Haleydawn.3764 said:(Achi) Pahans Memory Game (A Trip Down Memory Lane, has a map icon)(Achi)Pot of Soup (Just a Sip, has a map icon)Amnoon Bazaar Insight (has Map Icon)Old Amnoon Insight ( has Map Icon)(Achi) Reins of the Raptor, requires basic raptor and to do the Hearts in COCO Bounty Tour (3 bounties, 1 from each board location)

That's 6 right there, all in Crystal Oasis, none requiring more than the basic raptor. It’s not as difficult as you think.

I apreciate the response, very helpful. I might have a couple of those, and will eventually get around to completing all 6 when it doesn't feel like such a chore. Pretty sure other folks will benefit by stumbling across this thread.Edit: Right now I'm running around Tyria reading lore from various people and things. This is relaxing for me right now~

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:

@Aediph.2873 said:

@Hesacon.8735 said:PoF has pretty easy mastery points, unlike HoT. You pretty much fall over them exploring the map.

@Haleydawn.3764 said:(Achi) Pahans Memory Game (A Trip Down Memory Lane, has a map icon)(Achi)Pot of Soup (Just a Sip, has a map icon)Amnoon Bazaar Insight (has Map Icon)Old Amnoon Insight ( has Map Icon)(Achi) Reins of the Raptor, requires basic raptor and to do the Hearts in COCO Bounty Tour (3 bounties, 1 from each board location)

That's 6 right there, all in Crystal Oasis, none requiring more than the basic raptor. It’s not as difficult as you think.

@Aediph.2873 said:

@Hesacon.8735 said:PoF has pretty easy mastery points, unlike HoT. You pretty much fall over them exploring the map.

@"Haleydawn.3764" said:(Achi) Pahans Memory Game (A Trip Down Memory Lane, has a map icon)(Achi)Pot of Soup (Just a Sip, has a map icon)Amnoon Bazaar Insight (has Map Icon)Old Amnoon Insight ( has Map Icon)(Achi) Reins of the Raptor, requires basic raptor and to do the Hearts in COCO Bounty Tour (3 bounties, 1 from each board location)

That's 6 right there, all in Crystal Oasis, none requiring more than the basic raptor. It’s not as difficult as you think.

Great that you're making progress! Two things that are good to know already:1) There is actually quite an abundance of Mastery Points - remember to check your Achievements panel, not all MPs show on the map.2) Despite that, there can be tight patches before "leveling" up all mounts. Due to this - spend MPs up to the third rank of each mount (that's the one that improves its movement ability), but don't train the fourth rank until you have the 4 base mounts all to rank 3!By "base mounts" I mean Raptor, Springer, Skimmer (story requires these three) and Jackal (technically optional).

I hear you man. I have the same: depression and easily frustrated, and mostly all I want from this game is relax and explore its beautiful world. But it requires just a little more effort and couple more tries sometimes. The Pot of Soup can be enraging if you expect to have it within two tries, just keep up and suddenly after couple more tries it's done. It's your mind making it worse.

Same goes for the story line. I dread the story steps that have difficult boss fights at the beginning and then another one at the end with lots of steps in between - as the thought of having to do it all over again seems insurmountable. Eater of Souls for instance almost made me ragequit the game alltogether, untill I took a couple of breaths and found some useful advice on the web. I gave it a couple more tries and suddenly it wasn't too bad. I finished the story, and now I even started the griffon collection, while the thought of ever having that seemed like an impossible idea.

In general I watch my mind thinking those depressing thoughts and give more reality to the awareness in the 'background' that is observing them - which is free of those mental containers. And I try to do something fun ingame and take it one step at a time.

Start with the ones in reach, you will have to do some map travel but they are there. I have all the mounts minus beetle and griffon , curse you gold /shakes fist and they are all at least 2 mastery lines in. Some more, and i havent been playing long, just buckle down and map them out some evening, there are plenty that you can reach to get to the next level. Another thing ask your guild for help, this isnt a solo game there are plenty of really helpful people. My guild helps me all the time, im a huge noob and always asking questions.

Wow, get to the point and 'F' on it, such a gring, much shore.

Let me google that for you all struggles and grinders out there

@Tiviana.2650 said:Start with the ones in reach, you will have to do some map travel but they are there. I have all the mounts minus beetle and griffon , curse you gold /shakes fist and they are all at least 2 mastery lines in. Some more, and i havent been playing long, just buckle down and map them out some evening, there are plenty that you can reach to get to the next level. Another thing ask your guild for help, this isnt a solo game there are plenty of really helpful people. My guild helps me all the time, im a huge noob and always asking questions.

There needs to be some kind of super awesome personal interest for me in going through the story. I actually haven't done much with the story since Kessex Hills got all messed up (That Living World was amazing to participate in before life got in the way). Sometimes I get really engaged in doing the storyline quests, until I hit grind roadblocks like what I mentioned in the first post. It's like everything comes to a halt. I prefer things to come more naturally, really helps with the stress. I actually just completed Queensdale's exploration after someone in /map told me I could hover my mouse over each item (heart, hero point, waypoint, etc.) and whatever's missing will be highlighted on the map.

I wasn't initially trying to complete the map, I was just running around enjoying the random gameplay and the conversation brought up the info and BOOM, map completion ^_^

Edit: Last guild I was in, harassed the hell out of me and instead of hanging around toxic folks I left and joined a very small & casual guild. The leader left a few years back and I was made the guild leader while I was away, so I've been leading this guild of 5 people (4 haven't shown up in over a year) just out of peace of mind knowing I can have friendly folks join at any time. When it comes to parties, I pug the content that seems doable and interesting to me (I get to meet new people in the process, some folks have been great to talk to and play with temporarily!). These days I play mostly by myself, because it's the least stressful thing I can do. (I do enjoy /map chat though!) Actually, 90% of my entire MMORPG life has been by myself, going back to MUDs like Dragon's Gate, and others like Ultima Online.

I won't get into the details, but I'm just comfortable going at my own pace in games, whether they're MMORPGs or smaller Multiplayer/Singleplayer games

I skipped on the story at first also, but i went back and did it, and im glad i did. You get a whole lot of mastery points for story completions, consider that too. And yes im one of those people that died a lot on some of the stories. I still die a lot esp in hot maps, i only truly get mad when there is a mechanic that insta kills me and i dont have time to move. Its like this is just stupid, im stunned and cant move boom dead. I think those mechanics that stun into death need to diaf.

But really the story is something you should do, its a major part of the game. And the HoT and PoF stories are good if you follow them in order.

What @Tiviana.2650 said. I didn't have any issues with early MP in PoF because story chapters gave me some. Coupled with the ones lying about in Crystal Oasis it wasn't that difficult to get the raptor up to level 3.

Figured I'd bring some closure for myself and maybe the folks that were reading this thread. I finally gathered the last few Mastery Points I needed to unlock the Canyon Jumping Mastery for the Raptor. I proceeded to unlock the Springer Mount. After unlocking the Springer Mount, it seemed like everything just started to fall into place with each bit of time and exploration I spent in the various zones. With the Jackal being the last thing I unlocked last night, my focus is back on the Storyline and whatever comes with it! I'm glad I didn't just give up in my depression.

If I understand correctly, once the storyline is finished for Path of Fire, there's a chain of events leading to the Griffon mount. I've been going through this stuff at my own pace, not really putting myself to the grindstone, and I honestly didn't expect to get this far so soon. In regards to the topic, thank you for the supportive comments that got posted in here along with the guides for obtaining some of the first few Mastery Points out there. I don't think my words do enough justice to my sincerity, but thank you either way.

@Aediph.2873 said:Figured I'd bring some closure for myself and maybe the folks that were reading this thread. I finally gathered the last few Mastery Points I needed to unlock the Canyon Jumping Mastery for the Raptor. I proceeded to unlock the Springer Mount. After unlocking the Springer Mount, it seemed like everything just started to fall into place with each bit of time and exploration I spent in the various zones. With the Jackal being the last thing I unlocked last night, my focus is back on the Storyline and whatever comes with it! I'm glad I didn't just give up in my depression.

If I understand correctly, once the storyline is finished for Path of Fire, there's a chain of events leading to the Griffon mount. I've been going through this stuff at my own pace, not really putting myself to the grindstone, and I honestly didn't expect to get this far so soon. In regards to the topic, thank you for the supportive comments that got posted in here along with the guides for obtaining some of the first few Mastery Points out there. I don't think my words do enough justice to my sincerity, but thank you either way.

Thanks for poping back and giving us closure bud happy hunting too get your griffon.

@"Aediph.2873" said:Figured I'd bring some closure for myself and maybe the folks that were reading this thread. I finally gathered the last few Mastery Points I needed to unlock the Canyon Jumping Mastery for the Raptor. I proceeded to unlock the Springer Mount. After unlocking the Springer Mount, it seemed like everything just started to fall into place with each bit of time and exploration I spent in the various zones.

It really does fall into place once you get the Springer! At that point, the only "trap" is buying Raptor 4 before Springer 3, that can potentially make things tedious in getting MPs.

If I understand correctly, once the storyline is finished for Path of Fire, there's a chain of events leading to the Griffon mount.

There is! The collection is quite enjoyable apart from the gold cost, but if that feels rough, just remember that it's split into 10 items, so each purchase is easily manageable!

I don't think my words do enough justice to my sincerity, but thank you either way.

It's so gratifying to see advice given lead to success, so thank you for coming back to tell us!