Knife Tail Hunting Gang / Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock

So when I first saw this new Knife Tail Gang Hunting Bond, I was a little confused, wondering how it was any different than the Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock. I guess the whole "oh snap, a gang of skritt broke into the Black Lion vaults and stole a bunch of stuff!" thing should have tipped me off as to what the differences are, buuuuut my brain tends to move at the breakneck speed of a sleep-deprived sloth...so here's a breakdown of what the differences are between the Knife Tail Gang Hunting Bond and the Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock:

• The Hunting Bond only unlocks Black Lion exclusive armor/weapons/gliders/backpacks/mail carriers/minis.
• The Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock can also unlock Black Lion exclusive skins, but it also has a much wider selection of skins to unlock, such as dungeon armor, cultural weapon skins, crafting backpacks, etc.
• The Hunting Bond can apparently unlock dyes according to the blog post that introduced the unlock; presumably this means only Black Lion exclusive dyes. The Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock can unlock most dyes, Black Lion exclusive or otherwise.
• Only the Hunting Bond has a chance to unlock mount skins. These include both "regular" mount skins from bundles (for example, the Savannah Stripetail springer from the Exotic Breeds mount skin pack) and the standalone skins normally sold for 2000 gems, such as the Umbral Demon skimmer skin, the Reforged Warhound jackal skin, etc.
• Only the Wardrobe Unlock has a chance to unlock finishers.

Another major difference between the two is, of course, the method of acquiring them: get one for free/purchase the rest with gems for the Hunting Gang bond, or acquire keys and open fifteen Black Lion chests for one wardrobe unlock (or get lucky on one of the BLC drops).

For those who want a more thorough explanation (or just hate the way my rambling veers all over the topic like a loopy skritt).... Here's a full list of what each can unlock (thank you, wiki editors!)https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Recovered_Black_Lion_Goods (Knife Tail Hunting Gang bond)https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guaranteed_Wardrobe_Unlock

On another note, the words "hunting" and "gang" no longer look like words. The blog says it's "Knife Tail Hunting Gang," the wiki says it's "Knife Tail Gang Hunting"...I can't check in-game right now as to the actual name, so I just went with the wiki most of the time. Oof. :confounded:

@Batel.9206 said:

• The Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock can also unlock Black Lion exclusive skins, but it also has a much wider selection of skins to unlock, such as dungeon armor, cultural weapon skins, crafting backpacks, etc.

So the Hunting Bond is better, because has less chance to unlock trash stuff.

@ugrakarma.9416 said:

@Batel.9206 said:

• The Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock
  can
  also unlock Black Lion exclusive skins, but it also has a
  much
  wider selection of skins to unlock, such as dungeon armor, cultural weapon skins, crafting backpacks, etc.

Evidently so, yes.

Nice info OP and helpful. I have not used one yet but with my luck when I do I'll just get a mail carrier or mini, both of which I don't care much about. Hopefully the dye kit being excluded isn't an oversight. I hate those things when I get them from when I farm keys and 10 times out of 10 get a dye worth a few silver at best. But it was a free key for a small amount of time so I suppose I can't complain too much when I get dye kits. :)

The preview will only show you items you haven't already unlocked. I wish I'd taken screenshots of what was available on my second account, which I don't think has any gem store stuff unlocked, but here's some taken on my main account showing the mounts and dyes available, meanwhile my main account shows no minis which I'm sure I saw on my second account. (Note: it doesn't unlock dye kits, it's specific dyes.)

Here's the categories available to my main account, which I assume is all of them, because I don't think I've unlocked all the gem store items of a particular type except minis, and I know I saw them on my second account.

• Outfits
• Gliders
• Mounts
• Armour (individual pieces only, none of the sets like Primeval or Aetherblade)
• Weapons
• Backpacks
• Dyes
• Mini Pets
• Other Unlocks (mail carriers)

As for the dyes, yes, you get one of the dyes from the kits rather than the kit itself. My son's account got the Daybreak dye (from the Solar and Lunar dye set) from his free bond item.

So the Hunting Bond is better, because has less chance to unlock trash stuff.There's a cost distinction as well.

• The Bond costs 200 gems exactly.
• The Wardrobe Unlock is not sold separately it can be obtained directly for 15 BL Statuettes (likely cost: 2700 gems) or via RNG from BL chests (median cost ~600 gems, with high variance), although of course the first means one also gets 30 BL chest drops (2 per key) and the second ~11 or so (median).

Put another way: if you want to queue up a bunch of wardrobe unlocks for the lowest possible cost, the Bond is the way to go.

My bad with the wording about dye kits - I did mean individual dyes. Sorry about that; I've edited my original post, and thanks for letting me know about that oopsie. :D

So, there is confirmation that the Hunting Bond does unlock dyes and regular mount skins (not just the standalone skins)?

I saw a person say they got Aureus dye in map. I myself got the tiger stripe springer, along with Caithe's Crystal Bloom sword, a handful of shifting sands weapons, mini Squire Aurene, mini Kormeerkat, and miscellaneous other weapons (scientific shield for sure was one ... um ... also Mad King Pistol, Keepsake rifle ... don't off the top of my head recall the others). Anyway, regular mounts confirmed. You can use Preview to see which ones could show up for you.

Got my hopes up that this was something that would drop ingame from an event. But no its another loot box.

@Batel.9206 said:My bad with the wording about dye kits - I did mean individual dyes. Sorry about that; I've edited my original post, and thanks for letting me know about that oopsie. :D

So, there is confirmation that the Hunting Bond does unlock dyes and regular mount skins (not just the standalone skins)?

I can confirm that they're on the preview list, and that the list only shows things your account doesn't already have unlocked - which explains why some people wouldn't see them. I can't absolutely confirm that they drop because both my accounts got relatively uninteresting weapon skins, but the only reason to think they wouldn't is if there's a bug which prevents it.

So since I have not used on yet I have another question about this. The wiki says, "While bonded, any kill worth XP has a chance to reveal one of the Knife Tail Gang! Find them, and each bond will allow you to loot a piece of Recovered Black Lion Goods, which are yours to keep."

So does that mean if I use one and kill mobs worth XP there is a chance based on RNG there would be no Knife Tail to kill and I don't get anything?

@"JustTrogdor.7892" said:So since I have not used on yet I have another question about this. The wiki says, "While bonded, any kill worth XP has a chance to reveal one of the Knife Tail Gang! Find them, and each bond will allow you to loot a piece of Recovered Black Lion Goods, which are yours to keep."

So does that mean if I use one and kill mobs worth XP there is a chance based on RNG there would be no Knife Tail to kill and I don't get anything?

Yes, but according to the wiki's talk page, it's a pretty common drop - chances are you'd find one of the Knife Tail gang within a dozen mob kills or so. (Of course, this is only the experiences of three people; it's unknown if that's to be expected or if these three people were very lucky. So take the sparse research with a grain of salt.)

Also thank you @Danikat.8537 and @Donari.5237 for confirmation about dyes and mount skins! OP has been updated :D

@Tiviana.2650 said:its another loot box.

Quoted for truth.

@Batel.9206 said:

@"JustTrogdor.7892" said:So since I have not used on yet I have another question about this. The wiki says, "While bonded, any kill worth XP has a chance to reveal one of the Knife Tail Gang! Find them, and each bond will allow you to loot a piece of Recovered Black Lion Goods, which are yours to keep."

So does that mean if I use one and kill mobs worth XP there is a chance based on RNG there would be no Knife Tail to kill and I don't get anything?

Thanks for the info. So perhaps save them for something like Halloween where total kills are massive and easy to do in a short period of time to increase the odds?

@"JustTrogdor.7892" said:So since I have not used on yet I have another question about this. The wiki says, "While bonded, any kill worth XP has a chance to reveal one of the Knife Tail Gang! Find them, and each bond will allow you to loot a piece of Recovered Black Lion Goods, which are yours to keep."

So does that mean if I use one and kill mobs worth XP there is a chance based on RNG there would be no Knife Tail to kill and I don't get anything?

I’ve tried a couple. You click on the item and get a new icon above your skills that shows it’s active. You then kill things until a Knife Tail appears (seems to be random but it took several kills) then you kill the Knife Tail and he drops one of the loot boxes which has a guaranteed wardrobe item unlocked when opened. The buff did not disappear when changing maps. I didn’t log out or switch chars as I didn’t want to chance loosing it.

TBH not worth the time or gems imo.. I just used the free one from the BLTC and got the Dynamics glider... already got it so it wasn't a unique unlock. Had that happen with the guaranteed unlocks from the chests previously. So iI wont be buying any at 200gems to get unlocks I already had unlocked.As for how it works.. each one you by give you a bond, when you get a gang member discovered you kill it, you get your chest and the bond is lost so its 200gems per unlock.. just as easy to go use the statty vendor.

@Tiviana.2650 said:Got my hopes up that this was something that would drop in game from an event. But no its another loot box.

It does drop in game, from killing a Knife Tail gang member after you've revealed them by killing creatures, which as others have stated you get an icon showing it's active after you buy the bond from the Gem Store. It's not a box they just give you to open, you actually have to play the game to acquire it.

@Vavume.8065 said:

@Tiviana.2650 said:its another loot box.

Technically it's a loot box, yes, but the only way to get it is to kill something in the game...so it's a combination of a loot box with playing the game.

@"Bloodstealer.5978" said:TBH not worth the time or gems imo.. I just used the free one from the BLTC and got the Dynamics glider... already got it so it wasn't a unique unlock. Had that happen with the guaranteed unlocks from the chests previously. So iI wont be buying any at 200gems to get unlocks I already had unlocked.

That...shouldn't happen. As per the blog post, "[r]ecovered goods will always unlock a Black Lion Trading Company product you don’t already own in your wardrobe...."

Can anyone else confirm this?

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@"JustTrogdor.7892" said:So since I have not used on yet I have another question about this. The wiki says, "While bonded, any kill worth XP has a chance to reveal one of the Knife Tail Gang! Find them, and each bond will allow you to loot a piece of Recovered Black Lion Goods, which are yours to keep."

So does that mean if I use one and kill mobs worth XP there is a chance based on RNG there would be no Knife Tail to kill and I don't get anything?

Thanks for the information. I just tried my free one. I went to a spot with a lot of mobs and started the killing and after a bit the Knife Tail appeared. Fortunately I did some looking around during my killing spree because the Knife Tail wasn't designated on the map when it appeared (at least not that I noticed) and showed up behind the mobs I was killing. Had I not looked back I would have missed it. Like I said earlier with my luck when I killed it I got a mini red panda. But it was free so no loss there. :)

@JustTrogdor.7892 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

@JustTrogdor.7892 said:So since I have not used on yet I have another question about this. The wiki says, "While bonded, any kill worth XP has a chance to reveal one of the Knife Tail Gang! Find them, and each bond will allow you to loot a piece of Recovered Black Lion Goods, which are yours to keep."

So does that mean if I use one and kill mobs worth XP there is a chance based on RNG there would be no Knife Tail to kill and I don't get anything?

I tried a 3rd one and the Knife Tail appeared some distance away behind a treeSo have to check and look around I guess.

@"Donari.5237" said:I saw a person say they got Aureus dye in map. I myself got the tiger stripe springer, along with Caithe's Crystal Bloom sword, a handful of shifting sands weapons, mini Squire Aurene, mini Kormeerkat, and miscellaneous other weapons (scientific shield for sure was one ... um ... also Mad King Pistol, Keepsake rifle ... don't off the top of my head recall the others). Anyway, regular mounts confirmed. You can use Preview to see which ones could show up for you.

Well I'm jealous. Those are both high on my "want but not quite enough to buy" list.

@"JustTrogdor.7892" said:So since I have not used on yet I have another question about this. The wiki says, "While bonded, any kill worth XP has a chance to reveal one of the Knife Tail Gang! Find them, and each bond will allow you to loot a piece of Recovered Black Lion Goods, which are yours to keep."

So does that mean if I use one and kill mobs worth XP there is a chance based on RNG there would be no Knife Tail to kill and I don't get anything?

It seems like the way it works is the bond lasts until one of the skritt appears.

I've not thoroughly tested that - I didn't log out, switch characters or change maps - but on my first try I was going around Brisban Wildlands killing one thing at a time to watch how it worked, mainly boar and wind riders - and there was no indication that it would expire. It only disappeared when the skritt turned up - which spawned a short distance away and attacked me.

On my main account I went to Verdant Brink and didn't actually notice the skritt because it was in the middle of a heap of mordrem. I had a bit of a panic thinking the buff had gone and I'd missed the skritt until I remembered the Olmakhan Bag pulls consumables out of my top bag and saw that I had apparently killed the skritt and got the wardrobe unlock.

So it seems pretty unlikely that you'd miss it. I'm not quite sure what the point of that extra step is (except maybe a pre-emptive attempt to get around loot box legislation if/when that happens in more places, by presenting this as content rather than simply an RNG unlock) but it does seem designed so you know when you buy it you'll get a drop from it.

@Batel.9206 said:

@"Bloodstealer.5978" said:TBH not worth the time or gems imo.. I just used the free one from the BLTC and got the Dynamics glider... already got it so it wasn't a unique unlock. Had that happen with the guaranteed unlocks from the chests previously. So iI wont be buying any at 200gems to get unlocks I already had unlocked.

I had the same thing happen with the BLC unlocks.. thankfully support refunded a key to me, which is great, but yes.. it isn't supposed to happen.

EDIT - ANET support refunded me a new Hunting Bond, which was great and the turnaround from ticket to sorting the issue out was quick as I have always experienced from them.

I wonder what happens if the Knife Tail appears and you get killed before you can kill it?

@Danikat.8537 said:

@"Donari.5237" said:I saw a person say they got Aureus dye in map. I myself got the

tiger stripe springer

, along with

Caithe's Crystal Bloom sword

, a handful of shifting sands weapons, mini Squire Aurene, mini Kormeerkat, and miscellaneous other weapons (scientific shield for sure was one ... um ... also Mad King Pistol, Keepsake rifle ... don't off the top of my head recall the others). Anyway, regular mounts confirmed. You can use Preview to see which ones could show up for you.

@"JustTrogdor.7892" said:So since I have not used on yet I have another question about this. The wiki says, "While bonded, any kill worth XP has a chance to reveal one of the Knife Tail Gang! Find them, and each bond will allow you to loot a piece of Recovered Black Lion Goods, which are yours to keep."

So does that mean if I use one and kill mobs worth XP there is a chance based on RNG there would be no Knife Tail to kill and I don't get anything?

The bond disappears when you kill a gang member and a chest drops.. so its essentially buying a 1 hit wardrobe unlockAdd to that you now have to farm 5 events to get 1 chest from the vendor... nah I didn't like the boss events much, this will kill my interest within a couple of kills. Guess its just more of the same only more farmygrind needed to get enough marks.. wonder how much more stretching out they can do until we finally get the next content drop, cos to me it's really wearing the interest level real thin :(