sand portals in non-pof zones :(

I realize they are only in the desert because they fit the theme of the expansion but it is still strange. All of the other mounts except the jackal can use the full range of their abilities all over tyria except where mounts are completely disabled. I suppose you can TECHNICALLY say sand portals are not disabled on the core maps and such but without them actually being there it is a moot point. Or are there some that I do not know about?

There are no sand portals anywhere beyond PoF maps, but that is because PoF maps are designed to arbitrarily lock things behind sand portals just to have a use for that skill. The more useful and fun aspect of the jackel is the teleprt leap which you can achieve 3-4 times in a row to cross gaps, mitigate long falls and reach obscure places. Sure, the griffon can cover most of that, but there is something more stylish and fun in how the jackal does it.

You might think of it like updrafts for Gliding; there aren't really any in Core Maps that I can think of.

Sand portals are just that: portals. You are asking for shortcuts to be implemented in old content. Not gonna happen.

What do you need this for in the first place? The Jackal is still fully functional with its blink ability; you do not need portals to make use of it, plus those sand portals per se are not part of the Jackal's abilities, they are map mechanics (i.e., shortcuts or entry points to specific locations that you couldn't reach otherwise).

@Randulf.7614 said:There are no sand portals anywhere beyond PoF maps, but that is because PoF maps are designed to arbitrarily lock things behind sand portals just to have a use for that skill. The more useful and fun aspect of the jackel is the teleprt leap which you can achieve 3-4 times in a row to cross gaps, mitigate long falls and reach obscure places. Sure, the griffon can cover most of that, but there is something more stylish and fun in how the jackal does it.

This^^^

@Ashantara.8731 said:Sand portals are just that: portals. You are asking for shortcuts to be implemented in old content. Not gonna happen.

What do you need this for in the first place? The Jackal is still fully functional with its blink ability; you do not need portals to make use of it, plus those sand portals per se are not part of the Jackal's abilities, they are map mechanics (i.e., shortcuts or entry points to specific locations that you couldn't reach otherwise).

I think my point got lost as I can see that the portals are tied to the dessert theme. It is more my sense of balance between the mounts. All of the other ones have complete use of all their masteries anywhere that any mounts can be.

Yeah, I considered Jackal the mose useless mount in PoF personally and rarely ever used.Raptor for movement/speed, Springer for elevation and normal speed (and can take many hits like a tank when things attack), Skimmer for the water or to evade attacks of a group of any a lot with Jackal's 4th upgrade... which is the only good thing for Jackal, and then Griffon to go from Point A to G if you can get to a high point without going through a lot of the map.

The Jackal I keep hearing is the best/fastest going up a slope than the Raptor but other than that which I'm not doing all that much... I see no use for the thing.Yeah I can jump from high up and then dash just before landing to safe the mount... or I could simply allow the mount to take the hit and then when/if they dismount me, I'll mount back up when I get off the ground... or I just use a Griffon/Skimmer if I'm going to jump off really high as the Skimmer I can glide a bit down by holding down the jump button, or fly down with the Griffon.............. or the glider if need be.

Jackal is worthless outside of that 4th upgrade.

You don't have ley-lines in Core maps, or Nuhoch Wallows, or Bouncing Mushrooms, or grasping vines, or kodan flame skills etc... They're all part of a specific map mechanic, and as per your reasoning, they're also all "wasted mastery points".Mounts have already changed the way you can play in core maps, adding portals is useless. The maps are not built with those portals in mind, it would just be boring if you could take shortcuts anywhere.Better be friends with a mesmer ^_^

Except for gliding you can not use the rest of the mastery line either. Reread my posts, I am NOT complaining you can not use a mastery in core. What I am saying is you can fully use all of the mounts ... except for one. While I have no gripe about not having that ability there it is a bit unbalanced. Consider it something that offends my sense of even design.

I don't mind not being able to use the sand portal skill in Core, but I would be very excited to see one pop up on that corner of Kessex Hills toward the Wizard's Tower one day. It'd make a great stealth patch.

@Taelac.7036 said:I don't mind not being able to use the sand portal skill in Core, but I would be very excited to see one pop up on that corner of Kessex Hills toward the Wizard's Tower one day. It'd make a great stealth patch.

Oh, I do not mind it at all. My jackal is level 3 and I have not bothered to even use any of the portals in POF.

It is like all the walls of a room are hot pink except one that is lime green. Nothing actually wrong per se (beyond the clashing), just it is a bit, well, off.

mmm... a sand portal is a snowy region... or a jungle region... nope I don't think it would fit in Core Tyria.

Is nobody seeing my posts or are they just reading the subject line? I am NOT advocating for sand portals in core.

@Menadena.7482 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:Sand portals are just that: portals. You are asking for shortcuts to be implemented in old content. Not gonna happen.

What do you need this for in the first place? The Jackal is still fully functional with its blink ability; you do not need portals to make use of it, plus those sand portals per se are

not

part of the Jackal's abilities, they are map mechanics (i.e., shortcuts or entry points to specific locations that you couldn't reach otherwise).

Your point did not get lost, I addressed it, but you don't seem to understand. Even outside of PoF, you can make full use of the jackal's special ability, which is its blink-teleport forward. Using portals is just a bonus, it's not tied to the jackal's movement abilities, hence does not take anything away from it (as you claim).

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Menadena.7482 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:Sand portals are just that: portals. You are asking for shortcuts to be implemented in old content. Not gonna happen.

What do you need this for in the first place? The Jackal is still fully functional with its blink ability; you do not need portals to make use of it, plus those sand portals per se are

not

part of the Jackal's abilities, they are map mechanics (i.e., shortcuts or entry points to specific locations that you couldn't reach otherwise).

Exactly, the jackal's ability is the blink, not the portals. The portals are just a place you can blink into.

Bangs head on desk

Yes. You. Are. Missing. The. Point.

All of the mounts have masteries, can we agree on that?

The jackal's mastery level 3 can not be used other than in POF, can we also agree on that? Or does anyone have a counter-example?

My point was not that the portals should exist all over the place but that it is lopsided making the jackal pretty useless in core tyria. I am surprised a designer did not make the POF sand portals tied to something else and jackal 3 something more universally applicable.

@Menadena.7482 said:Bangs head on desk

Yes. You. Are. Missing. The. Point.

All of the mounts have masteries, can we agree on that?

The jackal's mastery level 3 can not be used other than in POF, can we also agree on that? Or does anyone have a counter-example?

My point was not that the portals should exist all over the place but that it is lopsided making the jackal pretty useless in core tyria. I am surprised a designer did not make the POF sand portals tied to something else and jackal 3 something more universally applicable.

Can still use jackal blinks to get faster from point A to B.

Sand portals are a mechanic as a shortcut or even to get to places you cant get otherwise. I don't see a point bringing them into core tyria as you can reach every interesting location already, even without/before gliding.

KITTENING READ BEFORE POSTING!!!!!

I am NOT NOT NOT making a case for bringing sand portals into core, where did I say that? I was observing jackals are the only mount that do not have as much access to their level 3 mastery as other mounts. Meaning jackal's level 3 mastery should have been something else in POF if the idea was to have mounts available everywhere.

I understand what you're saying @"Menadena.7482".

The raptor gets vault - can use anywhereThe springer gets high jump - can use anywhereThe skimmer gets ride the wind - can use anywhereThe jackal gets sand portals - can only use in PoF

It's a lack of design symmetry that reduces the overall applicability of the jackal in Core Tyria, specifically, the 3rd mastery for the mount and relative to its mount colleagues. The jackal's 3rd mastery is a map enabler rather than an earlier mastery enhancer.

Can you call the other mounts colleagues? Edit: Need a full size picture for this one... pardon the enormity

Edit: Why am I correcting spelling a day later?

@Menadena.7482 said:KITTENING READ BEFORE POSTING!!!!!

I am NOT NOT NOT making a case for bringing sand portals into core, where did I say that? I was observing jackals are the only mount that do not have as much access to their level 3 mastery as other mounts. Meaning jackal's level 3 mastery should have been something else in POF if the idea was to have mounts available everywhere.

Jackal's tier three mastery is the ability to get to all of the portal gated locations on a map. They have access to 100% of all portal gated locations on core and HoT maps. Sounds like they have full use of their tier three mastery.

They really should add the various mastery related movement features throughout the core maps as shortcuts. Unlike the newer maps where these features are the only way to access some areas, in core maps they would serve as shortcuts to make navigating various parts of the map easier. Updrafts, layline currents, bouncing mushrooms, thermal vents, sand portals, even Nuloch wallows could all be worked into core maps. Some maps would have a greater disposition towards certain movement features than others. For example, thermal vents wouldn't be in areas that lack volcanic activity of any kind, Nuloch wallows would only be in areas with a Hylek presence, updrafts would be more common in mountainous regions, etc...

I have a feeling that the Jackal is still best in avoiding aggro from mobs using the blink ability. I have the 4th Mastery which should give this avoidance to my other mounts too but I feel this is not working as intended. I still get lots of aggro leaping over Branded with my raptor. So I am using the jackal most when I am in HoT, where aggro can be a problem.

The possibility to use mount in the old content and exploit part of it through mounts meccanics is just an extra.

You, or everybody and i could count myself in, won't use skimmer and jackal cause raptor and springer are better? Nobody cares.

Be grateful instead for the possibility to use mounts out of pof.

It is true that you cannot make full use of the jackal in core tyria which makes it a bit weaker than other mounts, but I think that's ok. The mounts don't need to be balanced. They designed it to be interesting in PoF, and then allowed us to use them in core tyria because they learned from gliding that taking that movement ability away after we get a taste is very irritating.

Meaning jackal's level 3 mastery should have been something else in POF if the idea was to have mounts available everywhere.Making all of the mount abilities useful everywhere would have restricted the design space significantly. The jackals ability opened up their map design to include secluded and secret places that greatly enhanced my PoF experience, so I'm happy with the design.

Also, the jackal does have a place in core tyria: it is the fastest when going up hills. The raptor's jump gets cut short if you run into ground. The jackal's teleport can go up hills just fine.

@crashburntoo.7431 said:I understand what you're saying @"Menadena.7482".

The raptor gets vault - can use anywhereThe springer gets high jump - can use anywhereThe skimmer gets ride the wind - can use anywhereThe jackal gets sand portals - can only use in PoF

It's a lack of design symmetry that reduces the overall applicability of the jackel in Core Tyria, specifically, the 3rd mastery for the mount and relative to its mount colleagues. The jackal's 3rd mastery is a map enabler rather than an earlier mastery enhancer.

Can you call the other mounts colleagues? Edit: Need a full size picture for this one... pardon the enormity

Exactly. I do admit my thread title sounds like I was asking for portals but I was pointing out the design asymetry if the goal is to show off mounts everywhere. People without the xpack (and who have not looked up the masteries) are probably wondering why the jackal is not used as much as the other mounts in core.