Differents mounts, but no real choice...

Hello thereIn this topic I'll try to adress two problems I've encountered concerning mounts in PoF. Before we begin, yes, I have both expansions, and yes, I have the griffon, so this is not a rage thread.

The first problem I see is that, even with the diversity of mounts we have in the game, none of them compete with the Griffon. With a little trick, it can do almost everything the others mounts can do, albeit sometimes slower. And even without the griffon, others mounts compete with each other. Would the Jackal be better than the Raptor in any situation if it wasn't for the sand portals specially designed for it? The raptor jumps further and with more height...So we end up with a lot of very cool mounts, but in most situations, only one or maybe two are really useful...

I think that a way to adress this problem would be to change the way we have access to our mounts, as well as increasing their respective particularities. Making Raptor the best one for speed, the Bunny for height, finding a way that the Jackal's teleportation is useful without being a copycat of the Raptor's jump...The griffon needs restrictions too. I don't like it as mutch as the others mounts, but I end up using it all the time because, well it's simply better than all the others...Finding how to get in a specific area with tricky jumps is part of the fun, but when you can just fly there, I think it looses its interest.

For now, I feel like it's just "Okay, I jump here with the Springer, now I make that Raptor Jump, now I take the Jackal to use that sand portal, now I go back to the Springer...". Perhaps making stables in larges cities where we can change our mounts, and making us able to only take one or two at a time, would fix the problem, and lead us to make real choices concerning which ones we choose to take with us in our adventures?

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The second problem I'd like to adress is the obsolescence of the gliders compared to the griffon, or even the Skimmer. Why would I ever use my glider ever again? I can even use the Griffon mid air to save myself from a fall. It's uable in combat? It's a nice thing but does that alone really makes the difference? I think Arenanet should greatly reduce the Skimmer's "gliding" capacities. This would change nothing to how it can float on water or elevate itself above the ground, but it would certainly remove him from the glider's competition.

And for the griffon, well... I think Arenanet should find a way to restrict its use, without removing the interest in acquiring it nor the fun in using it. But I have no idea of how to do that...

For me mounts suffer the same problem that ranger pets suffer, we are forced to use specific ones to min/max, this completely ruins any sense of freedom of choice, and for me freedom of choice is huge, I really dislike having to swap between different mounts for different terrain, I would rather every mount has access to the same skills (via Masterys) and allow me to ride the mount I visually prefer all of the time, I could say a similar thing about ranger pets too but that is a different topic, I just hate being locked into the use meta things that Anet seems to think is fine, I'm currently lookin for a new game that offers me better freedom.

I think they are fine as they are. I'm not finding the griffon invalidating any of the other mounts, since it's slow on land and requires a high starting point to get around fast. Also, the jackal is substantially faster than the raptor on uneven terrain (90% of the entire world), since raptor's jump cuts short on every tiny uphill and obstacle, whereas the jackal just teleports forward no matter what. Then there's the sand portals of course, and the mid-air controllability, you will never have to worry about dismounting due to fall damage. Skimmer is great on water, takes no damage on sulfur or the Brandstorm in Vabbi, and the springer is just outright useful in any vertical exploration. Also, none of these mounts replace the glider, since it is much more precise in its movement and faster to deploy on smaller jumps/falls.

I actually find the raptor the least used of my mounts, but to me they all are just fine.

Mounts are fine. Each one has its use and even the oh-so-mighty griffon does not eclipse the others.

When I got the Griffon I used to use it everywhere all the time. But once the excitement wore off I find myself switching to Raptor to travel places faster and nothing compares to the Springer's high jump. The Skimmer and Jackal to me though are very situational.

I completely disagree

With the griffon:You're never as fast as you'd be with the raptor, except you can start on high ground, which is not always avaliableYou can never reach the same high Places like the bunny, starting from the Ground. NeverYou can never cheese wrath-area, sulfur, quicksand or water, like the skimmer does, never. Except you fly over it, which, again, needs high ground, which, again, is not always avalableYou can never pass Sand Portals.

And for Gliding, try using the Griffon in HOT maps in updrafts or ley lines.

Posts like yours make me think , they come from ppl who don't really have the griffon, they just saw some cool vids on youtube about it. Otherwise i can't explain this nonsense to myself. Sry.

Huh?Raptor is the best for flat terrain or "burst movement" (fastest)Jackal is best for uphill terrain (raptor leap doesn't work)Gryphon for hights or hopping up small/medium ledgesSpringer obviously has a niche use.

Idk what you're talking about.

Advantages of jackal over raptor:Faster on upwards slope / uneven groundBetter at avoiding hits from mobsNever take fall damage

Advantages of glider over skimmer / griffon:More precise movement controlsAbility to use in combatAbility to use updrafts / ley lines

I don't own the gryphon, but my most used mount is the jackal because of it's teleport and mid air change of direction control. My second is the springer for obvious reasons. I hardly touch the raptor at all anymore since most terrain stop it.

@Altair.8402 said:Advantages of jackal over raptor:Faster on upwards slope / uneven groundSo I should swap Jackal and Raptor everytime I encounter a small hill?Better at avoiding hits from mobsIt's just the same really, unless you pack dozens and dozens of them, you can outrun them in both cases.Never take fall damageYou can't die from fall damage while on a mount.

Advantages of glider over skimmer / griffon:More precise movement controlsBut if you fail your first landing you can VERY easily come back, and the distances are just so mutch greater...Ability to use in combatAlready adressed thatAbility to use updrafts / ley linesWhich is only a HoT thing.

@CafPow.1542 said:Posts like yours make me think , they come from ppl who don't really have the griffon, they just saw some cool vids on youtube about it. Otherwise i can't explain this nonsense to myself. Sry.https://www.noelshack.com/2017-40-7-1507487757-gw008.jpg

@ROMANG.1903 said:

@CafPow.1542 said:Posts like yours make me think , they come from ppl who don't really have the griffon, they just saw some cool vids on youtube about it. Otherwise i can't explain this nonsense to myself. Sry.

https://www.noelshack.com/2017-40-7-1507487757-gw008.jpg

I didn't meant to say you don't have the griffon. I said it just sounds like you have no idea what you're talking about.

I pretty much will never use the griffon unless I'm going on a decline, It just isn't as fast or helpful as the other mounts when you set key binds for all of them.

@MoarChaos.8320 said:I pretty much will never use the griffon unless I'm going on a decline, It just isn't as fast or helpful as the other mounts when you set key binds for all of them.

Even without that set up its still not as fast or as helpful, at least i dont think so.

That's entirely preference, though. It doesn't change that the raptor has the best flat land travel, jackal has best base speed for precise travel, springer has the best climbing, and Skimmer has the only water travel / complete damaging terrain negation. Griffon is the fastest if you can get up high otherwise i'm not using it unless there's some uneven terrain or a decline.

And here I am just using the mounts I want to use or that best suit the character.

shrug

Like I could be bothered doing that altitude gain trick all the time. And once you're on the ground, griffon goes back to being the slowest mount.

You say we have no choice, yet here I am riding my Skimmer constantly because I choose to have fun over getting from A to B slightly faster.

I agree with you that mounts, especially the Griffin, render gliding somewhat useless. However I don't feel that the mounts compete with eachother to a great extent. They each have a niche or role to fill. Some of those roles overlap in a few places but not completely.

I think there is a slight issue in that there's this aspect of needing to constantly swap between mounts to get to a few places. Thankfully those places are few and far between so it's not something that i come across often and i'm glad that, for the most part, I have the freedom to choose which mount i use. I however, disagree that the mounts compete with each other to such a serious degree, and I think it's great that each mount has different capabilities.

I also disagree that griffon is the supreme mount, it has it's own advantages, but there are definitely heavy limitations for most of the griffons usage. I personally view griffons as a combination of a gliding mount and a mount that's good for traveling at a 35-40 degree angle, where raptors and jackals are good for flat landscaping and springers are good for high jumping (with skimmer obviously being amazing for water, quicksand etc.)

I also disagree that griffons completely outdo gliders, specifically because of the escape combat via cliff thing. Gliders are also useful for getting into smaller places that griffons can't get you to, and griffons can attract the attention of enemies where you can turn invisible during gliding. Also leyline gliding and updrafts, but those are pretty clear but also not universal.

I've been enjoying anet's implementation of mounts and I have to say I constantly marvel at how clever it is. As others have described, each has their purpose and strengths/weaknesses. There's a sense of balance to it all that satifies my soul.

I have to say, when the mounts were originally pitched, I thought they would be 90% the same with some slight advantages, and you could just pick the one that you liked the look of, so I was a bit saddened to find that they were more of a "tool box," with each having specific roles that it was good for, and was mostly outclassed outside that box. That said, I still like the different mounts, and there really is no way to balance them out to be roughly equal without killing what makes them interesting. I've really come to love how the Griffon plays.

can't use updrafts with mounts

I don't see this at all.When I need to travel a good distance and I can't be high up, it's Raptor.When I need to get to a high area, even for flight with Griffon, it's the Rabbit. The Griffon's height is a vanilla rabbit... that's not bad, but some areas don't have any place for the griffon to step on to get another boost up where the rabbit can get.When there's a huge body of water, no question it's the Stingray. Nothing else can't swim and not all bodies of water is that close to a height I can get to right away to fly to a destination with the Griffon. That and if there's enemies below, I can stay on the Stingray and be out of danger's reach.Everything else goes to Griffon.

Skimmer should get a base speed boost to be on par with raptor/jackal, and then it will be far less situational.

@Zenith.7301 said:Skimmer should get a base speed boost to be on par with raptor/jackal, and then it will be far less situational.

It already handles uneven terrain better than either, clears gaps just as well, can hover over water and can even glide if you tap your movement key. Skimmer is fine.

I haven't been able to test it because I haven't unlocked the mastery just yet, but if the jackal's evade ability works like I expect it to while on your skimmer then it can also evade the vast majority of attacks aimed it's way.

I stopped reading as soon as I saw another person crying about the griffon. It doesn't even come close to replacing any of the other mounts as they all excel in different types of terrain.