[Why people so mad?]

I don't think people are mad, but disappointed. I think more than anything people are feeling ready for some new Elite Specializations. The current ones are getting stale and I and others airing similar feelings to my own want something new to play around with.

[HoT Veteran's Pack]

Uhm, the topic says to contact the Customer Support Team, but all I got as a response was;

We've identified an issue with the in-game mail with your Veteran rewards. We're currently investigating what went wrong and hope to have those items sent out to you soon! We'll check back in with you once we have more information. You can also check this forum post for more updates on a fix: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/1023665/#Comment_1023665

Thank you for your patience!‘.¸¸ . ✶¨. ¸ .✫¨.¸¸.✶¨‘✫

Regards,GM Tricky Pixie

This was a response to an inquiry where I even link the topic that tells me to contact the Customer Support Team.

I received an in-game mail during the Twitch stream today which said it contained the Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns Veteran’s Package, but it had no attachments as described over at the Forums; https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/86058/about-the-guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-veteran-s-packageIt says there to contact you lovely people over at Support, so if I could have some assistance, that would be greatly appreciated!

What? So the official News and Announcement post sends me to Customer Support, which then proceeds to tell me to go back to the Forums?

[HoT Veteran's Pack]

Yes, Amrok, that is what this topic is about. Stephane already wrote they'll look into it. I'm in the same boat. There's a free t-shirt outfit in the Gem Store though, you can pick that up at least.

[Should the Skyscale map currency be reduced?]

The grind has absolutely killed my interest in playing again. Haven't logged in since last Thursday, so it's been a week now, and I still don't feel like logging in. I just don't feel like grinding the same maps, again. Been there, done that. Send me to them, sure, no problem. Task me with beating a certain enemy, gladly a difficult one, or send me to do something with the equivalent difficulty of smelling a flower, whatever you want. But having me grind, through repetitive boring Hearts and events I have done more than my fair share of already, is just not giving me the drive to play. You effectively slowly started to kill my re-invigorated GW2 excitement within hours of finishing the new story update.

I was hyped as I entered the new map with my friend, I enjoyed the story we played through together, I was ready to play again! Then the time gated reality hit me, made me feel pressured to finish the collections in one sitting, which felt tiring and annoying. I missed the "deadline" the first day and had to wait for no given good reason after completing it the next day. I got faced with 3 days of not doing anything but press a button 3 times to play a watered down version of Tamagochi, which was extremely boring, then I had to wait another day, I logged in for approx. 1 minute each those days. Now, it's this horrible currency grind, again, which I've been through before. I'm already tired of the content it asks me to revisit. There's nothing new about it, no twist, it's the same exact grind I have done before. Never mind that you need to grind the same exact way for the next legendary trinket if you want that as well, which requires the Skyscale on top of that. It is literally a Korean MMO or mobile game at this point. There's no challenge to overcome, just time spent grinding. It's so mind numbingly boring. So unimaginative. It's the lowest of low when it comes to game design. I guess I see where the game's direction is going forwards. Maybe it's time to quit permanently this time. It was a good 6 years at least.

[Removing invisible walls]

No mount zones are arguably far more annoying, to me at least.

[Should the Skyscale map currency be reduced?]

I haven't felt like playing since Thursday because of this currency grind, well I didn't feel like it several days before that to be fair. I just don't have the drive for it after the previous collections burned me out. I also got super bored during the 4 days I could only press a hotkey 3 times to feed the Skyscale before any progress were allowed, so that was obviously a great design choice. I lost interest pretty much entirely. Doing Hearts that aren't even fun, the same events I've done before and tired of, months ago, repeatedly, and running around gathering nodes in maps I don't even want to play in is just not motivating me to log in and play, or you know.. spend any money. Good job, ArenaNet, seriously good job. This is the fastest I have ever lost interest in the/a game after an update. You did it. I applaud you for your demotivational skills and taking what could have been a great update and making it terrible, to me anyways. You have successfully transformed Guild Wars 2 into a grindy Korean MMORPG/mobile game, probably how NCSOFT wants it. Pat yourselves on the back for being this good at losing a player and maybe go read your Guild Wars 2 Design Manifesto post too see how far you've come/strayed. Maybe I'll be back when the next update hits to see if it's just as bad.

[Should the Skyscale map currency be reduced?]

I'm on the verge of quitting over needing to grind these maps after I've felt long done with them. I've popped into them leisurely from time to time, done a few achievements, but I have no drive to spend extended periods of time in a majority of them. The content they offer are not remotely fun enough for me to want to be in these maps. The collection does nothing to rectify that issue.

By all means send me back to maps to do various little tasks like in the previous steps, populate them with my presence briefly in a fleeting moment as I move around doing my thing, but to have me grind 250 of the map currencies are so demotivating I don't even want to log in at all to progress the collection now. I barely logged in at all these past few days, did like a single Heart and logged off because it just weren't fun. Today I don't even feel like firing the game up at all. I even know it can be done relatively easy by hopping around on alts, but I am sick to the bone of grinding for this thing with all these stupid forced timegates that killed the excitement I had and any drive that otherwise might have been there to see this through. I don't want the mount on a silver platter, but I am also sick to the core of the grind it has been only getting to this saddle part. I want to play a game to have fun, to relax a bit, not to grind away at it like it's a job, repeatedly doing the same thing over and over across multiple characters, mindlessly slamming my head into the same tasks I just did minutes ago, for hours and/or days. I wonder what happened to GW2's design manifesto over recent updates; "It doesn’t suck your life away and force you onto a grinding treadmill; it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun rather than just having fun; [...]" — it sure doesn't feel that way anymore. We've always had mild grinds, but nothing has felt as tiring as these recent ones.

Recent updates such as the previous "evolving" armor sets, the new "evolving" armor sets for this update, this atrocious Skyscale collection, it all makes me feel as if I am playing any other generic South Korean MMORPG out of NCSoft's portfolio. It's getting so ridiculously grindy and not in a fun way. At least the out of place shiny advert with all the glowing weapons suits the game better now that it is about as grindy as a Korean mobile game.

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

@Starfall Leyline.2481 said:

@"Absconditus.6804" said:All I did in GW2 today, was log in, press a hotkey 3 times, then log out. Feeding the Skyscale is such riveting gameplay. I look forward to the following 2 days of the same exact experience, then another 24h where I can't do anything thanks to another daily reset wall. Can't wait to see how fast I can log off GW2 during the next stage(s).

The fact that you don't find anything else in the game interesting to do except press that hotkey three times and then come back to post about it is not indicative of a bad game or a bad feature. Sorry, but that's just you not being interested in doing anything else. I logged in, pressed my hotkey three times, fed it some treats, played the flute for the heck of it, and then went to other parts of the game to work on achievement completion and map completion since I have several I'm still working on. If that isn't your thing, that's fine, but I'm sorry that you're missing out on most of the game experience. But don't behave like the skyscale collection is the

only

thing to do with the game, please.

Why did you decide that I have nothing else I want to do in the game and state that as a fact? Yes, I logged out after just a minute yesterday. I wrote right below my sarcastic remarks which were quoted that I am feeling demotivated, so I'd imagine that is why I logged out, right? — "Some will find it ridiculous, but this timegated collection has ruined any drive I have to play the game beyond doing the little I can do of the collection, such few days after the initial excitement of the update going live." — I logged in and out just as fast today. I will do the same tomorrow. That doesn't mean I don't usually find other parts of the game interesting. The collection has just burned me out already.

Typically after an update I have an invigorated drive to play the game too, which is not the case this time, well after beginning the collections anyways. There's usually plenty of things I enjoy doing in Guild Wars 2, but I am demotivated right now because of the disastrously poorly implemented timegating of this particular content (— for clarity, that statement is a personal opinion, I guess that needs to be clarified). I like to set myself goals, then completing said goals at my own leisure, not when the game dictates that I can do it. I do tend to be pretty fast, but not so fast that I burn myself out on anything in particular if I don't feel like doing it at a given time. If I need a break, I take a break. After completion, I tend to enjoy other various content with the new "toy" I have obtained for myself. That's how I have, e.g., crafted 21 Legendary items over the years. The daily reset timegating has soured up my entire experience this time around however, since I am prevented from dedicating myself to the particular part of the content I want to dedicate myself to, when I want to dedicate myself to it. And it's not that I don't know there are other time limiting constraints in the game already, I've gone through a few in the past, but there are usually so much additional content to partake in for that particular goal you are working towards that these timegates aren't felt as harshly. At least there tends to be more to do than just being able to push a hotkey 3 times a day, then after 4 days, waiting another 24 hours. In my opinion, that's just frustrating and poorly implemented.

It isn't even the feeding part that really bugs me, even if I find it to be stupid and non-engaging. It's the daily reset nonsense that has gotten me frustrated and annoyed. I'm wired in such a way that I am highly dedicated when I set myself goals. So the daily reset made me feel pressured to complete entire collections that I would otherwise have spread out between doing other content, perhaps over a couple days, just to not miss the "daily reset deadline". Typically if I tired of something after a few hours, I go do other things in the game, but I don't want to spend 2 days to do a collection, then be forced to wait a third. So I felt "pressured" into doing these relatively big collections before the "deadline". Yes, I am aware that there are no gun to my head, I have written that in the past. I just dislike feeling like I am losing out if I don't do the collection in one sitting and are forced to wait even more. It's completely fine if you find that to be weird, mental, stupid, any or all of the above. That doesn't change that it is negatively affecting my experience playing the game. If it doesn't negatively impact you, then why are you defending it? Would your experience get worsened without the heavy timegating? If not, then why are you seemingly defending it and/or ArenaNet. If it is a positive in your gaming experience, care to share how?

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

All I did in GW2 today, was log in, press a hotkey 3 times, then log out. Feeding the Skyscale is such riveting gameplay. I look forward to the following 2 days of the same exact experience, then another 24h where I can't do anything thanks to another daily reset wall. Can't wait to see how fast I can log off GW2 during the next stage(s). Or for that matter, the likely to be inevitable actual Gold sink, probably as you got to craft a 500 G saddle (— guess I got to point out that the latter is a sarcastic exaggeration).

Some will find it ridiculous, but this timegated collection has ruined any drive I have to play the game beyond doing the little I can do of the collection, such few days after the initial excitement of the update going live. What a great way to sell me on your Gem Store, ArenaNet — making me not want to play. Those things will surely get me to want to spend money; frustration, annoyance and not wanting to log in for more than a minute. It's not that I need or want to get the new mount in a day, but I sure dislike being forced to wait and be unable to play and work towards it with the time I want to allot to Guild Wars 2. I don't find there to be anything immersive about this timegating either, if that was the intended effect. It's just annoying. Let me put my effort into getting it when I want to get it, with the time I can make available to get it at a given time. There's no way I would be able to get it in a day regardless. I don't particularly mind the stupid feeding timegate so much as I hate the daily reset one, but it's a bit stupid after having fed it 14 treats in one go. It feels a bit forced to timegate the feeding at that point, more like a forced wait just to delay the player kind of wait rather than something done for immersion reasons.

It's a shame, what would otherwise be a rather fun collection, is made frustrating with excessive timegating.

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

Got to love how the timegating is making the third stage of the larger collection incredibly unfun after you have collected the toys and treats. You get to feed your Skyscale, 3 button pushes a day. For 4 days in a row, if you even got the materials/Gold to progress daily that is. That is potentially 3 days where all you get to do is click a hotkey 3 times if you finished the other collections. Then you got to wait. After you push that button on the last day, you are then faced with the daily reset timegate on top of that, delaying it further. And it's honestly the latter timegate I take issue with, not the feed one, even if this step is incredibly boring once you've done the other collections. What a great design choice though. Very immersive after stuffing it full of 14 treats. It makes sense that it can't eat more than 3 meals a day, but gorge on treats. The timegating definitely deserves applauding and defending. Can't wait to see the actual Gold sink in one of these later stages btw. — I'll be happily surprised if there is none. It's a sad realization, but with this collection I think ArenaNet showed how they completely forgot parts of their own manifesto throughout the years.

[...] GW2 doesn’t fall into the traps of traditional MMORPGs. It doesn’t suck your life away and force you onto a grinding treadmill; it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun rather than just having fun [...]

I mean, okay, they're not necessarily wrong. You don't spend hours to prepare to have fun, but you do spend hours waiting to have fun instead.

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

@Gop.8713 said:

@Absconditus.6804 said:

@Gop.8713 said:The only really compelling argument I've seen against the time gate so far is that it is a lazy way to prolong the content and keep players invested in the map over a period of time, and I think that is a fair complaint. BUT, I haven't seen anyone present any reasonable alternative that accomplishes those goals nor have I seen anyone demonstrate that the time gate is causing any actual harm . . .

The harm it causes is burning players out within just a few days. I am in this boat. Due to the nature of the timegating being tied to needing to complete the previous stage before a daily reset, I feel compelled to push myself through collecting all the collectibles within just a single sitting, whereas otherwise I may have naturally spread it out over a few days as I did other content. That tires me and I barely feel like playing at the moment. I am just logging in and doing it to do it. Getting it to get it. There's no drive to do that other content anymore because I am spending so much time collecting the collectibles. Afterwards I just want to log out the moment that stupid timegate wall hits me. I've done my

job

for the day, time to clock out and go home to relax.This just doesn't make any sense to me. You're 'burned out' from completing a small portion of the collection so your solution is to make more of it available all at once? I'm not saying you don't feel this way, I'm just saying it doesn't make any rational sense and so will not be compelling to others . . .

I'll just kindly ask you to read what I wrote one more time. You clearly miss the part where I write that due to the daily reset requirement being there to unlock the following stage of the larger collection, psychologically this pushes me towards burning myself out on doing the collection in one sitting, rather than naturally spreading it out and doing it when I want to do it. Having more of it available at once, as in not having this stupid daily reset mechanic to unlock the next stage, would allow me to feel less pressured into completing the entire collection stage in one sitting. I don't want to leave it half finished and then get hit with another wall when I finish it the following day or the day after. Without this stupid daily reset mechanic, if I am tired of hunting the collectibles, I would be more compelled to do other content like I normally would, be that in the new map or elsewhere in the game. I mean, the entire thing I wrote says this, but you seemingly chose to discard it and make up a entirely different narrative in what I wrote. It's no better than everyone else defending this timegating calling those opposing it entitled, lazy and after instant gratification when a timegate has nothing to do with any of that. There's no effort in a timegate, its removal doesn't lessen the scope of the collection. It's the fact that I can't progress the next part of the collection before a daily reset that is the issue I have with the timegating. Not because I want to do it all in one day, which due to the third stage's timegating within the timegate makes impossible at any rate. It's because the daily reset timegate, as I wrote and write once more now, psychologically pushes me to grind it out in one sitting. That burns me out. It's what the majority of posts I have read opposing the timegating is talking about, but nearly every single pro-timegate post choose to ignore entirely and just discard as whining to be able to get it without effort (which makes absolutely no sense — again, the timegating does not equal any sort of skill or effort). I guess I should repeat myself one more time, the daily reset mechanic adds a feeling for certain people of losing out if they don't complete whatever stage they are on, thus they feel as if they have to grind it out, even when they don't want to and are tired of doing this task at the given time. No, there's no gun to our heads. But it has that effect. It feels like a chore because you are doing so much of it in a single sitting with the time you have available to play Guild Wars 2.

The better question is, in what possible way would it negatively affect you who don't mind the timegate, if it weren't there? Why are certain people being pro-timegate, how is it benefiting them. How is it rewarding them. What is it about it that makes it worth defending? I have yet to see anyone defending it provide a reason as to what's so great about the timegate, for them. How is it elevating your gameplay experience so much that you need to defend it.

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

@"Gop.8713" said:The only really compelling argument I've seen against the time gate so far is that it is a lazy way to prolong the content and keep players invested in the map over a period of time, and I think that is a fair complaint. BUT, I haven't seen anyone present any reasonable alternative that accomplishes those goals nor have I seen anyone demonstrate that the time gate is causing any actual harm . . .

The harm it causes is burning players out within just a few days. I am in this boat. Due to the nature of the timegating being tied to needing to complete the previous stage before a daily reset, I feel compelled to push myself through collecting all the collectibles within just a single sitting, whereas otherwise I may have naturally spread it out over a few days as I did other content. That tires me and I barely feel like playing at the moment. I am just logging in and doing it to do it. Getting it to get it. There's no drive to do that other content anymore because I am spending so much time collecting the collectibles. Afterwards I just want to log out the moment that stupid timegate wall hits me. I've done my job for the day, time to clock out and go home to relax.

The toxicity brewing in map chats all over the zones related to the collections aren't exactly good either. I haven't seen this high levels of nasty comments fired around.. I think ever. This clearly is upsetting people and then there's those it doesn't upset that are nasty in return to those who are upset, with no good reason either. There's no reason to defend the timegating as far as I can see. The timegating has nothing to do with instant gratification or effort put towards getting the mount. It is just a wall, preventing you from putting in effort where you want to have fun and focus your playtime, when you want to focus on it, not when the game psychologically pushes you towards doing it.

I'd say that any prolonged investment in the map isn't there because of the timegating either. You only need to do 10 events in each "lane" to unlock the vendors, but otherwise you don't need to partake in the map events or meta. "Day 2" sends you around to various other maps as well, so there's no investment in the new map there, other than speaking with a couple NPCs. I am actually kinda sick of the new map. I loved it as I went through the story, I loved it as I did my initial events clears and exploration. Now I hate it. Well, hate is a strong word, but I am unlikely to return to it unless its needed. I somewhat feel bad for the talented map designers. I associate it with a frustrating grind that sent me to the same freaking locations three bloody times to collect scales, feed medicine to sick Skyscales and then pick up eggs, all in one sitting. It was largely the same exact locations! That was such a boring and frankly terribly done collection that was simply frustrating after the second roundabout. At the very least it could have put the collectibles in more varied locations. "Day 2", far better, but I still feel like I am under a time constraint where I have to complete it all, and there is a lot to do, within the time I have to spend on the game, before the daily reset. I know there's no gun to my head, but psychologically this timegating with the daily reset mechanic has that effect on me, and I'm sure plenty other players too. It's just frustrating.

I do think it's causing harm. I think it's creating negativity in what has been one of the most open and welcoming game communities out there. Sure, we're largely still friendly, but a new player being greeted with a bunch of complaints in the map chat about the timegating and seeing a bunch of nasty comments from those who don't mind it, flung in the direction of those who do mind it, isn't going to be a good first impression. I think it's burning out players. I think it's an element of frustration when you don't got enough time to finish a collection stage in a single day and are as such forced to wait yet another day when you do get it done. I am not in that boat, but I can only imagine how demotivating that must be.

I do not see anything positive about the timegating, and I can't fathom why people are defending it.

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

@"CETheLucid.3964" said:"Man we really need more content! There's just nothing to do!""What the hell, why can't I get every single new thing on release day?!"

?

Do explain, how is it more content? It's just timegated. Timegate or not, you'd do the same exact content, but now you just log out, perhaps frustrated, the moment a timegate walls you from doing anything instead. It's not in any way shape or form more content. Pretty much nobody has said they want everything on release day either. These collections are massive enough on their own (and "Day 3" even has its own little timegate inside the timegated collection), so it'll take days for anyone that has a sleep schedule they like to maintain. For those with little time, it'll likely take a week or two. Most people are saying they hate this timegate system that ArenaNet has decided to use. That is what people want abolished. Not the amount of effort the collection itself actually takes. All this has done is create toxicity in the map chats where people are telling people in the nastiest way possible to quit playing the game if they mention they dislike the timegates. You see it here on the forums too, though more moderated. It's on Reddit, it's on Twitter, it's on Facebook. This timegate system was a terrible design decision by ArenaNet. Players are unhappy. A lot of them. And it literally serves no purpose other than delay you. There's no more content that comes from it. It only serves to pressure some players into feeling as if they have to do a collection stage in a single day before reset, which is understandably frustrating if you don't got the time to do so, and to delay everyone. Again, how is it more content?

In terms of keeping me invested and excited about new things, this has been the worst update since 2012 for me. Literally because of the daily reset timegates to progress further. They push me to do so much more of the collections in one sitting than I would have without the daily reset criteria being there, and I'm feeling burned out already. 2 days in.

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

This keeps getting regurgitated; those with a distaste towards the timegating wants instant gratification. They want the mount in a single click. They are lazy.

To all of you that falls under the umbrella of making these things up, and you are, in what way is the timegating increasing the effort it would take to obtain the mount. Without the timegating, wouldn't it be just the same effort as it is now, but those with more time could push harder to finish it in a few days, and those with less time would finish it at their own pace instead of feeling forced to complete a stage before the daily reset? Maybe you see the latter as increased effort, but I can correlate that to frustration for those with less time than myself. The base effort, collecting the collectibles, is the same. The timegating only serves to wall you off from putting in said effort for x amount of time. There's nothing skillfull about the timegates. If there are, then by all means, enlighten me, because I don't see it.

There are perhaps a few that find the collections to be overwhelming and too large. But the majority of the complaints here are the timegating. That is the subject of this topic. How, does timegating equal skill or effort. How does the removal of said timegates reduce the effort required? If you can't come up with a good reason for the timegates and a solid argument for how they increase the effort required to be put in to get the mount, then can you please stop making things up and saying people who dislike the timegates are lazy and just want instant gratification? Because I don't see how you can get instant gratification with the size of these collections. "Day 3" has timegates inside the timegate for that collection btw. and is arguably a Gold sink. Just have a look at how the Grow Lamp has exploded in price (thought you can craft it cheaper of course, for now at least).

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

@Gop.8713 said:It's like they want us to play the game or something . . .

Except a timegate is a hindrance to playing. You are literally walled off from playing through the content you want to focus on at the given time. The collection is massive, and it's also repetitive, at least the first day with you visiting mostly the same exact locations repeatedly instead of things being spread out to different locations. Aside from the medicine ingredients from the vendors and unlocking access to those, after you've done 10 events in each of the sections of the map, there's no reason that you will need to do an event again for the rest of day 1. I can't speak for day 2's collection, as I haven't gotten to start it yet. So you just run around, collect the collectibles, then get hit with a timegated wall and log out. You didn't interact with other players. You started to ignore events and the meta. You just ran around collecting to collect with the time you got before the daily reset and felt burned out by it. It weren't fun.

Nobody that I've seen is saying they want the mount immediately, nobody is saying they want it within a few hours. They just don't want this stupid daily reset timegate system to basically push them towards having to complete each collection within a single day. It's already a massive collection. There's probably a money sink in one of the later stages too, I won't be surprised. It did not need this timegating. Timegating is such a lazy game design. The removal of the timegates does not in any way lessen the effort it takes to obtain the mount. The timegate does not require effort. It just tells you that you can't put effort towards what you want for x amount of time. It's like GW2 suddenly became a mobile game, all that's missing is the ability to pay to speed things up.

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

I'm realizing now that all this has done for me is to have me log in, do the collection quests, log out. I don't interact with other players, I don't partake in events I don't need. I don't revive players I see downed. I just rushed around the map, then logged out the moment the timegate hit me. This is an absolute first for me after a new content update, ever since the release of the game. I always have fun and want to play for hours upon hours for the next weeks to months. The excitement for the new mount has died already, I guess I associate it with frustration. Doesn't help it's awkward to control and it clings to everything even though you don't want it to (though I expect the Mastery tweaks to help with that). I'm just going to do it to do it at this point. Getting it to get it. It's day 2 and I am in a burned out state in regards to GW2. Don't feel like playing the rest of the day, because what I want to do is timegated. Doesn't help the first collection basically sends you to the same locations repeatedly. Collect these scales. Administer medicine to sick Skyscales in practically the same locations. Oh, pick up eggs in the same locations that weren't there before too. That gets a bit repetitive, might be why I'm burning out already as well, more-so with the feeling of having to do the merry-go-round fetch quest all in one day to not get delayed even further by this terribly stupid timegate system.

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

@"Dondarrion.2748" said:"Actual probelm"

It's a game for crying out loud, you'll get your mount over the course of seven days, why this incessant moaning over things taking time, for whatever reason Anet decided.

Maybe this way more people will get the Skyscale at the same time, not just the hardcore who nolifed the new patch for 72 hours non stop at launch.. it would certainly cater to casuals and letting them also get something new more or less "first" too for once.

The flaw in that proposition is that a casual player won't be able to complete a collection stage in a single day before the daily reset. There's just way too much to the just the first stage for that. If we're talking true casuals anyways. They are not going to be first at all, they are going to be slowed down even further as they miss one day, then got to wait yet another day. Instead of continuing the collection on day 2, they are now on day 3, since they finished the first stage on day 2, or they are on day 4 because they finished it on day 3, etc. It's not helping a casual player the slightest, and who cares if someone "nolifed" to get the mount day one.

ArenaNet is probably trying to keep the map populated, or rather to keep players around to try sell them items in the Gem Store, but frustrated and annoyed consumers are far less likely to make a purchase than happy ones. And this timegate hits everyone, even those that are staying around for more than a few days after an update goes live and having cleared it. With this timegate they're frustrating those that would potentially be willing to open their wallets anyways. You have to be pretty stupid business-wise to get on the bad side of your loyal consumers just to try to target leads and sell them your product with a marketing ploy. This is just bad marketing. It's bad game design. I can't think of a valid pro-consumer reason for the timegate. If you have one, by all means, share it. I'd love for ArenaNet to share the pro-consumer reason for it. Their thought process behind its implementation. If they already did, I've missed it.

[[merged] About the Skyscale Timegate...]

What does the timegate serve to do. What is its function. To keep the map populated with players? To keep them around for a cash shop update? (News flash, frustrated and annoyed consumers are less likely to make a purchase.) Why would you want to pool maps full of players frustrated over a timegate, just spamming negativity in the map chat and brewing a toxic community? How is that healthy for the game? It's not even just the in-game map chat(s), it's around the web too. Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, there's negativity-laden posts everywhere about this timegate. That's not good marketing. Timegates are lazy. They are garbage game design. If you want players to populate a map, make it interesting/fun/rewarding. Ironically, Dragonfall is actually rather rewarding and besides getting sick of it from overexposure to rush through a collection before the daily reset, pretty fun. The meta is good. It doesn't need this garbage timegate to stay populated. All this timegate serves to do right now is frustrate players, creating negativity in the community that doesn't need to be there. Going by the first stage, this is a massive collection. If you don't do each stage before the daily reset, you're going to be forced to wait yet another day. 5 days suddenly becomes 10-15 days for those who can't do a stage in a single sitting. Or even longer.. it creates this weird feeling of needing to finish the collection's stage before a daily reset, otherwise you got to wait even more. You lose the feeling of having the option to do it at your own pace, so you get overexposed to the content and tired of it. Who in their right mind likes a forced timegate anyways. I think the negativity is completely warranted. The timegate doesn't need to be there. I don't quite understand why ArenaNet has put it there in the first place, the content itself without the mount is good, a lot of us is just getting sick of it due to the frustration of the timegate and feeling forced to rush through a lot before a daily reset.

[Meet the Renegade Remade!]

You can "sort of" cast Spiritcrush from behind now. As long as you cast it a tiny bit in front of your own feet and keep moving, it's not interrupted and puts a field between you and whoever you're engaging. (Fire Sevenshot behind you and through it and you can often catch those chasing behind off guard and hit them with some extra Burning.) I'm fine with it needing to be initially cast ahead/at the feet of the Renegade. Maybe it could be a bit more lenient and actually allow the cast to occur right at your feet without moving forwards interrupting it though. I wouldn't be against an evade backwards on Sevenshot either, that's a fun idea, though I somewhat enjoy the intricacies in using it and lining up the shot so I would hope it would be an addition rather than a replacement. I know a lot of Renegade players hates it, but I think if you play with it for a while and get used to it, it starts to feel super rewarding to land in PvP. It's to be fair a rather powerful attack when all shots land if you have a mixed Power-Condi setup, so I am okay with it having a higher skill ceiling to land personally. I definitely would love a tiny bit more of an defensive interaction in the Shortbow skillset, without it necessarily replacing anything. A little leap opposite of the direction you fire the Sevenshot (you can fire it behind you as you kite) would be kinda cool and fits right into my way of using it. Scorchrazor is defensive, but it's so easy to dodge with how slow it travels. And if it traveled faster, it'd be OP.

Anyways, this is kinda off topic, sorry. Love the art and I think your skill changes sounded fun at least.

[Meet the Renegade Remade!]

@"Arkantos.7460" said:I always wonder why we get a shortbow when renegade icon still looks like a greatsword .....

I always thought if I stretched my imagination, it looked a little like the Guerrilla Arc bow when viewed from the front, though stylized and angled. Although I've mostly seen it as an arrow tip piercing through something, perhaps a portal through the mists. If it were a Greatsword, that'd be a very weird looking short one with a very strange hilt. As a melee weapon I think it looks more like a mace with a weird hilt. I do think Kalla was not supposed to be Kalla initially though, and it were actually Pyre Fierceshot that the Elite were designed around. That were a character we knew from GW. I think Kalla is Kalla for.. reasons, and were shoehorned in later in the development process after it were too late to redesign everything to fit a new weapon type. Don't get me wrong, I think Kalla is an absolutely awesome character in the lore, she's a strong lead character with major implications on the history within the Charr factions, but she clearly seems to have been more blade focused than her grandfather. I think it would have been better to add her as a later Elite with a blade weapon and them sticking with Pyre than renaming the legend and skills. Even the Manifest of Kalla Scorchrazor seems to push towards the narrative of a blade, although it's based on a common saying, as well as her statue, while retroactively having been fitted with a bow, has also always depicted her with a blade clutched between her hands.

Still, I'm not sure why people are to this day seemingly so obsessed with Greatsword for Renegade, it's not like it will happen. I think the Shortbow needs work, it's a bit clunky, but overall I am happy with it. I were from the start. It even gave me a reason to go after and craft Chuka and Champawat. And it's not like Kalla doesn't fit the weapon at all. She was the grandcub of Pyre, I'm sure he passed on the skills of marksmanship to her. Fun enough fan mock-up though, Don. Love the art edit! That said, I'd rather have Greatsword on a future Elite. Maybe they can give us Pyre with a Greatsword instead and retroactively fit a blade on to his statue. With some tweaks, I think the Shortbow can be made even more reliable and fun than I am already having with it. That you no longer interrupt Spiritcrush if you run through it after casting helps a ton. I literally run a Shortbow build right now with permanent Superspeed in combat to kite with. It's honestly pretty fun.

Now if only the Renegade/Revenant dev(s) would actually fix Bloodbane Path not hitting all its arrows if the target is moving, that'd be helpful. And the spirits need some love, especially for World vs. World where they are borderline useless outside of popping Necromancer marks. I can somewhat find a use for them by plopping them down on the sidelines, but it's limited use over running an entirely different legend. The no valid path to target nonsense needs to go. It's long overdue that this gets fixed. They also die way too easily, they can be CC'd. It's just frustrating to use the spirits outside of dueling others as you roam around. It's not like these things are moving. They are killable, CC'able, fields. It's pretty stupid in design. Perhaps make them take vastly reduced damage as a means to allow them to actually function slightly better in large scale combat. Give them a relatively weak breakbar to withstand the first brunt of the massive amounts of CC in large scale combat? (Scale it based on mode?) I also think each of them should be a combo field to give them some added use and fun interactions. I love that I can fire my arrows across.. wait a minute, the Combo Field: Fire on Soulcleave's Summit is no longer there even though the tooltip says it is.

[Hide chest armor function]

I personally think a rare drop skin like the invisible slippers wouldn't be terrible. More valuable items to potentially get your hands on, to use or to sell, is not a bad thing. For female characters, allow the default underwear to be dyed. I get that a rare skin would be frustrating for those who don't want to get the Gold to purchase it with or to try their luck with getting a skin, but I still think that would be the best way to implement it.

[Is the Warclaw just a reskinned Griffon?]

Why do panthers resemble lions, why do lions resemble tigers, why do tigers resemble.. come on nature, these are just re-skinned house cats! Is the Warclaw the Griffon? Is the Griffon the Warclaw? No? Then are they not separate mounts? How often are you upset about how similar feline creatures are in nature? Or how often do you complain about dogs just being re-skinned canines? Griffins are legendary mythical creatures typically depicted with the body of a lion, with wings and the head of an eagle. It makes sense for them to move like a feline war mount, doesn't it? A house cat pretty much moves the same way a lion does. A lion moves the same way a panther does. Why is it so bad that the Warclaw shares the rig and some animations with the Griffon? To me it only makes sense. The animations feels right. If it made it easier to develop, is that a bad thing? It's not like the mount feels terrible to use. At least to me. On the contrary, it feels really nice to use it within World vs. World.

[Warclaw Annoyance]

I use hotkeys like Ctrl+Z (Springer), Shift+Z (Griffon), Alt+Z (Skimmer), etc. to mount specific mounts with generally more use than say the Raptor which I'd select manually. I haven't actually noticed. I guess this is something they can fix rather easily though by separating WvW and PvE mount selection (WvW only having one anyways).

[Armistice Bastion suggestion]

@meb.6285 said:I have another suggestion. Can we filter out Armistice chat from normal Team Chat? They're normally not talking about anything to do with WvW, and not making scout calls. Rather than blocking all of them, or turning off team chat completely, can we just filter that out?To be fair, I kinda like that it is linked. While I'm there, thanks to the fact that I can see the calls for assistance to defend various locations, I have been able to hop over to the map briefly to help with fighting off enemy forces before hopping back to the Bastion and continuing with what I was doing. I wouldn't be able to do that without the chat being linked. And yeah Team chat has basically always been a little bit like that, brief periods of time with chatter about random stuff. I've never been bothered by that, I can sift out what is an actual call for assistance.

[Is the Warclaw just a reskinned Griffon?]

I don't see the problem here. It's a mount that was based from the Griffon animations and skeleton, but developed into its own thing. They said so themselves that it started out as a Griffon without its wings and opens holes on the side of its body. It's very much its own mount at this point though. Outside of WvW it has lackluster use and you're better served hopping up on your jackal, but that's perfectly fine as far as I'm concerned, it is intended to be a WvW mount with WvW-oriented skills. What's important to me is that it feels feline in its movement. It just so happens to be that the griffon also feels feline. The movement feels right.