"Quest" Mounts and Meta Events

[fourhim.3584]

Sorry, I don't post here very often at all, and I may be ignorant of a lot of things, so bear with me. I'm not angry, just a little frustrated that as a casual free to play (other than expansion) PVE player I feel a little left behind in the most recent map meta events. And the main reason I am left behind is because of 1) Lack on information about where the "zerg" is heading next, and 2) The apparent inability to get to that next location without a Griffin or Skyscale (maybe roller beetle in some cases?), at least before the squad has already killed whatever they are working on there. I'll try to explain.

I own HOT and POF, so I have the default mounts. I also have all the waypoints unlocked for the map Meta Event zones. But starting with Living World 3 or so, waypoints started to be few and far between, maybe because they knew mounts were coming? And I get it - a raptor can get around a lot faster. And I wholeheartedly agree that, in advance, I need to read up about the map meta events and watch videos about how they work. I've already done that with Silverwastes and the latest Icebrood Saga map, and I'll do that with others too. So some of my frustration is just not knowing how to get around the map as well as I should, as I mention above.

But yesterday for the first time I tried to keep up in the Dragonfall Meta, and I just tried again this morning. Maybe its because of when I joined, which I think was late in the event, but the entire squad was just hopping from Champion to Champion all over the map. This must be after the dragon is dead and they're in a hurry before it all resets. But it seemed to me that I would only be able to do that "Champion hopping train" with a Griffin or Skyscale. I feel that way on the latest Icebrood Saga map too once the squad is in the northern section. Its not just the fact that the default mounts are slower in getting around the map. It's that with a flying mount you are not being attacked (much) by all the enemy mobs you have to move through to get to the next location. So on a raptor, bunny, etc, its very likely that I will get gang rushed, knocked off my mount, and forced into combat, which I will have to then get OUT of before I can mount again. Normally I would avoid these mobs, but I'm trying to move around while watching that commander tag on my mini map, and he/she is moving REALLY fast.And this is just for the Icebrood Saga map.

For Dragonfall, in my admittedly limited experience, I see virtually no way to complete it without a flying mount, because that map is just EXTREMELY hard to get around, with sheer cliffs everywhere. They clearly designed the map this way on purpose, but it is so frustrating when trying to navigate. I even saw people with griffins struggling to get the altitude needed to get to the locations. But I can confidently say that my son and I will NEVER have a skyscale mount, unless the game gives one to us, not because of the time commitment, but the gold barrier to entry. Ironically one of the best ways to farm gold in the game is the map meta events, but if you can't effectively do the map meta events without a skyscale, as seems to be the case on Dragonfall, then that's like putting the cart before the horse, isn't it?

In fairness, earlier map meta events like Silverwastes, Auric Basin, etc work just fine with POF mounts, or even no mounts at all. But it seems on the later ones they are almost assuming that the players doing the meta will have a griffin or even a skyscale. Is this incorrect? If not incorrect, then is the direction the game is going now with new map meta events?

I'm really hoping that either skyscale and/or griffin will come included in the next expansion, or that the devs make these map metas not so dependent on having the flying mounts. Maybe I've just had "less than newbie friendly" commanders in Dragonfall the last two days. When I join groups for World Boss Events, or Silverwastes, the commander has always been very informative and conscious that some players might be trying it for the first time. Did "Triple Trouble" for the firs time last night, and those commanders were great. Thanks to the guild that did that for us.

Like I said, I will try to learn the Dragonfall Map and events locations better, but I am concerned if these start to have a mounts barrier to entry that not all players can afford. And like I said, I could be totally wrong. If so, please be gentle :) Thanks for listening.

[Randulf.7614]

The Skyscale has a very low gold barrier though. It's the griffon that has the massive gold sink attached. The skyscale is specifically designed to be able to work towards by any player, just with a long winded time process. There is zero chance of including two premium mounts in an upcoming expansion for no cost. They exist to give people something to work towards and keep map populations a bit boosted whilst players do the associated events

You can def do Dragonfall with the other mounts, but there's no doubt it's optimal to have the skyscale. There are rental versions around the map to aid with it

As for later maps, only the second half of Drizzlewood seems like it works better with the Skyscale. Grothmar, Bjora and main section Drizzlewood have no design flaws requiring the Skyscale or a flying mount in general

[fourhim.3584]

Thanks. I think I read somewhere that Skycale required something like 250 gold to get the materials. I guess you're talking about crafting some instead, which is something I have not done in this game yet, very much. I'll look into it. Also, does it have to be the same character doing all the steps on the skyscale path? My son started it with his character and then gave up. I'd hate to have to start over.

[Randulf.7614]

@fourhim.3584 said:Thanks. I think I read somewhere that Skycale required something like 250 gold to get the materials. I guess you're talking about crafting some instead, which is something I have not done in this game yet, very much. I'll look into it. Also, does it have the be the same character doing all the steps on the skyscale path? My son started it with his character and then gave up. I'd hate to have to start over.

The griffon requires 250g in various chunks of say 25g a time. The skyscale is about a tenth of that because it is mostly collections (memory serves, it is somewhere between 30-40g). Not crafting will up that cost probably, but that's really on the player to make such an obstacle on themselves. For flat gold, the skyscale is largely neglible in cost

You can do any bit on any character to progress. Everything to do with collections and achievements is account wide. If one character starts it, another on the same account can finish it

[kharmin.7683]

IIRC, you need to have started the Skyscale quest in order to use the "rental" Skyscales in DF?

[Randulf.7614]

@"kharmin.7683" said:IIRC, you need to have started the Skyscale quest in order to use the "rental" Skyscales in DF?

You just need to be a certain way in the story itself. I believe it is the 'Glory of Dragons' step of LS4E6 (if memory serves, usage of one is required to get to Kralk wing and collect the blood for the spear)

[Sobx.1758]

@"fourhim.3584" said:Thanks. I think I read somewhere that Skycale required something like 250 gold to get the materials. I guess you're talking about crafting some instead, which is something I have not done in this game yet, very much. I'll look into it. Also, does it have the be the same character doing all the steps on the skyscale path? My son started it with his character and then gave up. I'd hate to have to start over.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skyscale/Walkthrough#Notes_before_startingWhat you need for skyscale.

And you don't really need skyscale/griffon/beetle to keep up. You need a little more experience to know what to expect and/or follow the WP pings, that's all.

[Danikat.8537]

The gold cost for the skyscale varies greatly depending on how you choose to do it. At absolute minimum it will cost 41g: 6g for 'Raising Skyscales' (you have to buy 3 items, one costs 3g, one is 2g and one is 1g) and 35g for 'Riding Skyscales' (7 items at 5g each, each one also costs 250 of a different Season 4 map currency and 250 volatile magic).

You also need 12 pieces of skyscale food which cost 1g 65s to craft or 2g 25s to buy from the Trading Post and a grow lamp which costs 16g 33s to craft or 20g 29s to buy (note: all these prices are subject to change based on market rates). Finally you can either do an achievement where you have to reach 21 places at the end of jumping puzzles or other hard to reach areas, or buy or craft 20 Extra-Pungent Skyscale Treats (you get 1 free) which allow you to skip steps. They cost 4g 60s each to craft or 5g to buy. If you choose to do all 21 steps without using the treats you can sell the one you're given to make back some of the gold.

So in total the cost is between 36g (spend only where necessary, craft using materials you already have and sell the free treat) and 188g 29s if you buy all the items which can be bought (and even more if you buy instantly instead of placing orders on the Trading Post). But even if you go for the more expensive route I think it might be helpful to think about the cost per item rather than trying to get all the gold together before you start.

(The griffon is similar, but simpler: throughout the collections you need to buy a total of 10 items which cost 25g each. So it will cost you 250 in total but you don't have to get all that at once, if you wanted to go for it you could buy one item whenever you had 25g. There's no time limit on unlocking the mounts, you won't lose progress if you don't do it all in one go so you can take as long as you like to complete it.)

As for map metas I agree that Dragonfall is easier with a skyscale, but it's an exception. That map is the one where the skyscale was introduced, so it's probably designed to show it off. In most of them it doesn't make that much difference. The flying mounts can be useful but they're not required for anything.

[Cuks.8241]

Dragonfall is probably the most extreme in that regards if not the only one.Griffon does just fine though in many cases even better than Skyscale and you can consider it a core mount. Actually, if I had to choose one mount only for Dragonfall boss phase and champ phase, I just might pick Griffon over Skyscale. It moves around much faster just need to know some different routes. Skyscale is more straightforward.

Now here is a tip for Dragonfall boss and champ phase. You can teleport to any shrine at any time regardless if you are in combat or not or if you are alive, downed or dead. People forget that.