Path of Fire Races and Mount Swapping

I'm just going to cut right to the chase here.

I love the races in the various Path of Fire zones I do, but there is now a growing trend that I've noticed and I feel that this has to be nipped in the bud to promote fair play. Essentially I have seen multiple players using the secret gryphon mount to participate in race events, and worse, seen players swapping to the gryphon near the end of the race in order to snatch a win when they would otherwise lose. These race tracks were not designed for the gryphon mount, and give any player who uses them an unfair advantage against any other player on any other mount, even the sand jackal which can cover distance quickly due to their teleport ability. In fact, this recently happened to me while I was doing the Crystal Oasis race that starts in the Free City of Amnoon. I had my sand jackal, and there was only one other racer present who was on a raptor. Now that track is designed for raptors, but I figured the Sand Jackal would give it a run for its money and so we took off and I managed to stay in the lead for 95% of the race. Then, just as we get close to the finish, the player who was on the raptor flies past me on their gryphon, nailing the remaining checkpoints and taking first place right out from under me.

Now I'm not sure if something can be done, but personally, I would like to see the gryphon mount restricted from race events unless there is a course somewhere out there that is specifically designed for that mount, at which point they should be usable for that race only. Maybe make the races restricted to the mounts that are obtainable in that zone? I don't know the proper solution, but something has to be done here.

First off, the race in Vabbi seems to be designed for the griffon mount, as there is one point which I tried with the jackal and couldn't stay airbound long enough to get through all the checkpoints.

Second, if this is specifically for the griffon mount in races and not mount swapping in general, I think they title should be changed a little. I know I've started a couple of races with a mount, then realized another mount would be better suited for it. (For instance, the Elon Riverlands race is a skimmer race, but could probably be run with the griffon or any of the other mounts except for one area over the quicksand.) As such, I wouldn't like to see a person locked into their mount just because they signed up for the race, and be either forced to resign in order to get back to normal travel.

Third, has this been a problem for any race outside of the Crystal Oasis? I've tried pretty much every race in the Desert, and Amnoon's race is the only one where I've ever had more than one competitor. So I'm not sure if the issue is over placement in a race, or specifically losing first place thanks to a tactical switch to the griffon.

If it is named 'Raptor Race', perhaps it should be only valid for Raptors, and not Sand Jackals or Griffons. /shrugOtherwise, if one different Mount can be used, I guess all different Mounts could be used.

Well, researching it a bit, I see it is not named 'Raptor Race', and even included Warthogs, so I guess any Mount goes.

You complain that someone uses mount "not suited for the race" while at the same time you run with jackal in a "raptor map" race? Stop being a hypocrite.

@Sobx.1758 said:You complain that someone uses mount "not suited for the race" while at the same time you run with jackal in a "raptor map" race? Stop being a hypocrite.

Allow me to be clear. I said 'The gryphon mount is not suitable for the races' because the races that I have seen are ground races with obstacles which require long jumps, teleportation, skimming over surfaces or require the ability to leap up cliff all things that the various mounts that we get normally can do. Want to do the race in the Crystal Oasis? All you need is a raptor. Your chance of winning is greatly increased if you have the mastery for longer jumps trained, but it's still winnable without it and the Raptor can even beat the Jackal / Springer / Skimmer if the rider is skilled enough.

The gryphon mount allows you to skip over all the obstacles while also moving faster than every other mount in the game. It's also one you can't get access to without a 250g investment, which not every GW2 player has unless they're either good at using the trading post, spent a lot of time playing or they've spent real money on a gem conversion. Essentially if you have the gryphon you will win every single race, hands down, with no effort required as no other player will be able to catch up to you. There is no competition at that point, and no other player will ever have a chance of claiming first place as long as a single gryphon rider is present. The more gryphon riders? The more places get snapped up by them instead of people on regular mounts.

So I'm calling for the gryphon mount to be made unusable in these races. It cannot be beaten by any regular mount. It does not promote fairness especially when racers can simply hop on the gryphon and snatch a win when they're losing on whatever mount they picked to start the race with.

@Kynmarcher.2184 said:I'm just going to cut right to the chase here.

I love the races in the various Path of Fire zones I do, but there is now a growing trend that I've noticed and I feel that this has to be nipped in the bud to promote fair play. Essentially I have seen multiple players using the secret gryphon mount to participate in race events, and worse, seen players swapping to the gryphon near the end of the race in order to snatch a win when they would otherwise lose. These race tracks were not designed for the gryphon mount, and give any player who uses them an unfair advantage against any other player on any other mount, even the sand jackal which can cover distance quickly due to their teleport ability. In fact, this recently happened to me while I was doing the Crystal Oasis race that starts in the Free City of Amnoon. I had my sand jackal, and there was only one other racer present who was on a raptor. Now that track is designed for raptors, but I figured the Sand Jackal would give it a run for its money and so we took off and I managed to stay in the lead for 95% of the race. Then, just as we get close to the finish, the player who was on the raptor flies past me on their gryphon, nailing the remaining checkpoints and taking first place right out from under me.

Now I'm not sure if something can be done, but personally, I would like to see the gryphon mount restricted from race events unless there is a course somewhere out there that is specifically designed for that mount, at which point they should be usable for that race only. Maybe make the races restricted to the mounts that are obtainable in that zone? I don't know the proper solution, but something has to be done here.

The griffon requires you to start from a rather high point to pull off a dive and gain momentum before being able to fly at high speeds. Since you have to be in the race starting area when the race starts, you need to find and use a high enough starting point during the race - which requires some time and - depending on the track - also skill.

In the Amnoon race in particular, there is one spot directly on the track (on a building next to a Vista) where you can jump off with the griffon, which is most likely the starting point the griffon user took off from -> If so: that building is just high enough for someone to take off and gain momentum, with a rather high chance to land face first in the sand if you are just a tad off with your timing. So if the player pulled that off during the race, he/she deserved to win the race over someone who simply runs from flag to flag while occasionally pressing the space bar (at least in my opinion). If I remember correctly from the "griffon guild chat", even ANet devs were impressed when they first saw

You are right that the race tracks are designed around a certain mount, but there is a reason those tracks are not restricted to that specific mount. It gives player an incentive to come back later and try the race again on a different mount they acquired later on in the game. The griffon has borderline uses but more often than not other mounts end up being better for the race anyway. In supply runs, however, the griffon has much more uses and is better than other mounts more often than not.

What exactly bothers you about the griffon being better in the Amnoon mount race (if played well) anyway? It can't be the rewards, and the achievement (where you have to be among the first 4 players) can be completed without problems most of the times - yesterday I was alone in every single race throughout all maps, on a weekend during peak hours...

I personally think that for open world races like this, it's OK the way it is right now. It's just a fun thing to do when you are bored and doesn't exactly give you high rewards for your time (nothing that adds up to the 250g players had to pay for their griffons at least).

But what I would love to see (and think would have much potential) is an instanced version of those races, where you can queue up with friends or guildies (maybe in a party or squad) and define rule sets (e.g. raptor only race, griffon only race, raptor + jackal race, etc.) for competing with your friends on a level playing field.

I think it's on the OP to prove that the griffon mount isn't suitable for races.

Op is complaining about this, and I had a race over the weekend, where I lead the whole way. As I was closing back on Amnoon, the person that was behind me, came from inside Amnoon, in front of me (never passed me), and got awarded for finishing first.....