[Follow up to the June 28 Balance Update Preview]

I've been playing this game since the first beta days and to be honest... you know that what you've posted here is a load of tripe. Anybody that's been around for as long as I have knows it, too.

At this point, just tell your player base that your design team is comprised of people who only play 2,000 hours of Quickbrand and camp axe, and whose only secondary class is Mechanist. Tell them that you do not intend for any other class to be able to compete with the Guardian's Firebrand or with Engineer's Mechanist (and to a lesser degree, Scrapper). Just go ahead and flat out tell the 5 remaining Elementalist players to uninstall the game because you're constantly putting a shotgun to the back of their head and pulling the trigger with every balance patch you've ever released. Tell all those terrible casual players, the ones that this game was originally made for and aimed at, that the only class balance you recognise is dictated by about 10 raid speedrunners, and a stationary golem that doesn't fight back. You certainly don't balance based on anything else, and if you want to try sell me the idea that you do, then I have a bridge to sell you.

The idea that an ArenaNet employee is yet again apologising for communication failures is just a really bad joke after all these years. As a company, you've always been abysmal at communication when it comes to GW2. And, if we're honest, you've also been historically trash at ever finding proper balance in almost all your game modes, too.

Neither of these issues are new. And what's really worrying is the fact that they aren't just historical issues with the company, but they're persistent issues with the company. You never communicate properly. You've never really balanced classes properly. If this is all you're capable of after your huge "finale of our big story arc" expansion, if this is the best you can do after all the hype you put into this balance patch, then maybe the game deserves to die at this point. Your competition in the MMORPG market is blowing you out of the water and you're only becoming more and more of a bad joke, with a once wonderfully promising game whose only selling point now is "Well, uh... at least there's no gear grind, right?"

[[Game Bug] Druid Stone and Aurora progress blocked due to Draconis Mons issues]

In order to complete the Draconis Mons Master collection for Aurora, you need to fully complete the Druid Stone achievements. One of these achievements for the Druid Stone, during the third step "Sprouting the Druid Stone" needs you to get an Element of the Saurians, a drop from the Champion Stonehead King.

 

Currently the only available instance of Draconis Mons is bugged, and the pre-event escort that leads into Champion Stonehead King isn't spawning at all. This might not be an issue if other map instances were available, but they aren't; there are three LFGs available (this being on NA) for jumping puzzle teleports, but they're impossible to join no matter what character I'm on or what map I'm on. This means that Draconis Mons is currently locked to a single bugged instance that prevents completion of the the Sprouting the Druid Stone collection, which therefore also means Aurora is currently impossible to complete if you don't have that specific event already done.

 

(I'm somewhat doubtful anything will come of this because we have other bugged events and pre-events that have blocked progress on legendaries before that have gone unfixed for years, but at the very least this can act as a PSA if anybody is on that step on NA and is wondering why the event isn't spawning. The only thing you can do unless the bug's acknowledged and fixed is to wait until a full reset and hope that fixes the instances.)

[[Merged] Big mount bug]

I've had this, too. I don't know what caused it either - mounts don't always bug this way for me and I've only been able to reproduce it yet, though I haven't really made any efforts to, either. Glad it wasn't just me though - my other half at the time couldn't replicate the bug and didn't have any issues so I wondered if it was some weird thing I'd done.

[HoT Veteran's Pack]

Same issue here. Relogging as well as changing maps hasn't fixed this issue.

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

@Kyumy.5370 said:

@Airyll.7849 said:

@"bOTEB.1573" said:These are your words. You want even less effort, no? What would be less effort in your opinion?

You seem to be very good at nit-picking comments that serve your own narrative and intentionally ignoring all constructive comments that reveal the actual problem with the mount:The Skyscale's collection is equivalent to that of a legendary collection, with additional unreasonable time-gating and not enough reward. The time-gating has been

mostly

resolved, but this still now leaves us with a legendary collection that does

not

give you a legendary outcome. The Skyscale is a mediocre mount compared to the others we already have access to; it cannot travel on the ground as fast as the Raptor, the Jackal or the Roller Beetle / it cannot ascend as quickly as the Springer or the Jackal (via portals) / it cannot fly as fast as the Griffon and by extension, a skilled Griffon flyer will also be able to stay airborne longer than the stop-start nature of Skyscale's "flight".

The effort that goes into getting the Skyscale does

not

equate to the reward I get. I actually find the collection to be really fun, and I don't mind it, but I'm loathed to do it because I'm doing it for... a sidegrade. A not-even-a-sidegrade, in fact. We're not asking for the collection to be less effort; we're asking for the

reward

of the collection to

appropriately match

the effort required to get it. For legendary collections everywhere else in the game (weapons, armour and trinkets alike) you get impressive visual effects, you get the ability to stat change whenever you want for no cost, you can always retrieve upgrades you have put into them without needing an extractor to do so - they are

upgrades

to Exotic and Ascended gear, not a sidegrade. Considering the fact that the Skyscale takes as much effort and time as Legendary collection does, why does it not give something of appropriate value as a reward?

We aren't asking for "less effort". We're asking for the Skyscale to reflect the amount of effort it needs.

Do you really think it should work this way ? Again, no offense by any means, it's a real question. Don't you think if the reward isn't good enough, then people that don't think it's worth spending time on it just shouldn't do it.I don't craft every single legendary weapon only because it's available and I feel the need to do it at all cost. From my point of view, it's not worth spending time crafting them. Thus I just don't craft, but I don't ask the recipe to change, or the legendary to be improved.(Again, don't be triggered here, It really is discussion, not here to taunt or whatever)

I think that any game and every game - of any genre, of any type, you name it - should try to always have a golden principle in mind when they design content: "is this reward worth the time we ask them to invest into getting it?" I don't think it is unfair that we view our time investment as a form of currency because, in the game industry, it is. Our time is our currency, not just our money; we all have limited hours in our day. Therefore, we want content we do to feel like it was worth doing. This is the same reason why people who have spent years upon years in World of Warcraft, for example, might find it hard to let the game go even if they don't think the game is worth it any more, because they have invested into it for so long.

The Skyscale has the potential to be a legendary mount, if they would just let it fly. The reality of our current mounts is that they already invalidate every single older map in Core Tyria and in Heart of Thorns, so the only thing that ArenaNet are trying to do with the Skyscale right now is keep some manner of balance in Path of Fire maps that were designed with mounts themselves in mind. And even then, I don't think it would break any of these maps if they just let the Skyscale flat out fly at the regular pace it moves at. It doesn't fly very fast, so if you want to zip around a map you won't use it. And it doesn't go up very fast, so if you're trying to gain height quickly, you won't use it. And it certainly doesn't run very fast, so you aren't going to use it for ground travel. The mount, even in its current iteration, is nothing more than a bit of grandiose showboating. So, I ask: why not let it be the ultimate showboating mount? Nobody's going to use it when they want to actually do content purely because of the speed it moves at, but if they just want to fly on a cool looking mount that they worked hard to get, it would feel very rewarding in that regard. As it stands right now, the Skyscale is just missing something, it's missing that flavour that is meant to make it "prestige" as ArenaNet themselves called it. Given the borderline legendary nature of the collection, I don't think it's unfair for players to say "Hey, look, we don't mind putting in all this work because this mount has real potential! It just needs a small balance fix, you just need to let it fly, and it would absolutely make the collection feel perfect for the mount itself."

If you don't want to do it, that's fine. If you don't think it's worth your time, you don't have to do it. But that doesn't really mean that other players shouldn't point out when an idea with potential isn't actually living up to that potential; what you are basically asking everybody to do is "settle" for what they get. It's a very "shut up and put up" attitude, even if you perhaps don't mean it to be; we aren't asking you to follow our standards, we aren't telling you to do the mount if you feel like it would be a waste of your time. In turn, we ask that you don't try to simply throw away our valid criticisms or suggestions under the notion that we just... shouldn't bother?

As a side note, asking somebody not to be triggered probably isn't a good way to have a discussion with somebody.

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

@"bOTEB.1573" said:

@"Airyll.7849" said:We aren't asking for "less effort". We're asking for the Skyscale to reflect the amount of effort it needs.

"this mount and collection is way to much effort for to little reward"Since the mount isn't changing, you want to put less effort in order to obtain it.In other words you want to get closer to instant gratification :)

Also crafting any legendary collection with its precursor will take you more time/money than this collection, aka the effort put in it is more than the effort you put in the mount collection. Example - Aurora. You are 15 days time gated just to get the back, which is 2 times more than the mount collection, at its previous state, after the change next week it will be 3 times ... you must be aware that tomorrow many players will have the mount.

All you do - literally all you do - is put words into other people's mouths.You assume that because I say "I want the Skyscale to reflect the amount of effort ArenaNet ask me to put in" that I'm saying "I want the grind to be less because I know they won't change the mount" and these two statements ARE NOT THE SAME THING

Also a friendly reminder that if you do not have the Charged Quartz you need for this mount, this mount takes 22 days, so no, Aurora is not "2 times more."

When you can actually discuss your own points instead of trying to twist and manipulate the things everybody else says (and also when you can stop being wrong, as per the immediate point above) then we can, you know, have a discussion. But until then, you can stop responding to me, because you don't actually respond to me at all. You try to put words into my mouth that I haven't said and then you add in smarmy little emotes as if you've proven your point from some morally superior high ground, which you have not. You're wasting everybody's time because you have no ability to make points of your own, you just twist the words of everybody else to try and suit your made-up narrative. Get out of your echo chamber and actually listen to what people are saying.

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

@"bOTEB.1573" said:These are your words. You want even less effort, no? What would be less effort in your opinion?

You seem to be very good at nit-picking comments that serve your own narrative and intentionally ignoring all constructive comments that reveal the actual problem with the mount:The Skyscale's collection is equivalent to that of a legendary collection, with additional unreasonable time-gating and not enough reward. The time-gating has been mostly resolved, but this still now leaves us with a legendary collection that does not give you a legendary outcome. The Skyscale is a mediocre mount compared to the others we already have access to; it cannot travel on the ground as fast as the Raptor, the Jackal or the Roller Beetle / it cannot ascend as quickly as the Springer or the Jackal (via portals) / it cannot fly as fast as the Griffon and by extension, a skilled Griffon flyer will also be able to stay airborne longer than the stop-start nature of Skyscale's "flight".

The effort that goes into getting the Skyscale does not equate to the reward I get. I actually find the collection to be really fun, and I don't mind it, but I'm loathed to do it because I'm doing it for... a sidegrade. A not-even-a-sidegrade, in fact. We're not asking for the collection to be less effort; we're asking for the reward of the collection to appropriately match the effort required to get it. For legendary collections everywhere else in the game (weapons, armour and trinkets alike) you get impressive visual effects, you get the ability to stat change whenever you want for no cost, you can always retrieve upgrades you have put into them without needing an extractor to do so - they are upgrades to Exotic and Ascended gear, not a sidegrade. Considering the fact that the Skyscale takes as much effort and time as Legendary collection does, why does it not give something of appropriate value as a reward?

We aren't asking for "less effort". We're asking for the Skyscale to reflect the amount of effort it needs.

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

• This incoming change does not remove the timegate-in-a-timegate of twenty-two days for people who don't have the Charged Quartz Crystals they need. While these players are likely few in number, the Charged Quartz Crystal requirement was a big point of contention and I see that it has been not only untouched, but in fact, completely dodged entirely. While the Grow Lamp recipe is hard to change, why can't the pieces of Skyscale food have their recipe adjusted?
• Ultimately, timegates do not add content nor do they add "immersion" for players. They simply obfuscate a sore lack of content, something that your game has been accused of having several times with each living story release.
• In this case in particular, this entire collection feels more worthy of a precursor to a legendary than it does to a hand-me-down jack-of-all-trades-but-good-for-nothing mount. Can I ask, sincerely, why are you so afraid of letting the Skyscale actually fly?

I'm dead serious about that last question. The Skyscale does not fly faster than the Griffon, meaning that if you're looking to get somewhere in a timely manner you probably won't use it. It doesn't ascend faster than Springer by your own design, meaning if you want to get to high places quickly you're going to use the Springer or even look for Jackal portals. You're basically calling the Skyscale a legendary mount - that's what you infer when you call it prestige - but at best it is a side-gride to all current mounts that you would only use for the fun of exploring in a new way... which you can't do, because it can't fly and instead it's just a glorified trundling griffon that hovers if you aren't pressing keys.

Nothing about the Skyscale is prestige, ArenaNet. Nothing about it deserves that kind of title because, from a mechanic standpoint, nothing about it is a true upgrade. Legendary weapons, armour and trinkets all are upgrades to their respective content; you can swap out upgrade components and swap stats on the fly without the need to use ingredients and a mystic forge. It's a small upgrade, yes, but this still makes them a quantifiable upgrade over Ascended - which loses upgrades unless you have an extractor, and requires the mystic forge to have the stats changed - or Exotic which flat out can't change stats at all. So, if the "prestige" legendary mount is indeed a legendary... why isn't it an upgrade to any existing mount in even a small way? Right, because you were too afraid of "invalidating" other mounts, despite the fact slow flight wouldn't do that. Or, were you too afraid of the Skyscale invalidating all this old content you keep wanting us to go back to? I don't know if you've noticed, but all the current mounts invalidate that content already; core Tyria is a joke to navigate now and Heart of Thorns is just as easy to break using Springer and Griffon, who can easily traverse those vertical maps and get you to the highest places with no difficulty, no gliding required.

The problem wasn't just that you timegated this collection, ArenaNet.The problem was that you timegated a legendary style collection, for a mount you yourselves claim to be "prestige" that is, in fact, not prestige at all in a mechanical and technical way. If you just let the damned dragon fly (and if you don't want it to go super fast, then just give it a single stamina bar like the Springer and only let it do one barrel roll instead of two) then it would at least feel like it was genuinely worth all of this effort.