Bad accretion design means that about 120 ranks are dedicated to mount/gliding and maybe more with provision mastery (if you want that juicy autoloot). These things were not needed for new players in the first few years of WvW. Seeing posts like OP really don't surprise me because the new player experience is mixed at best in the current year if not out right janky. D: To be fair, you just need 4 points to get gliding/mounts, though of course you will be worse off without the rest of the stuff. Having to unlock autoloot is kinda dumb but then again most wvw loot is worthless anyways. But, yea, the new player experience espeically in wvw is terrible. To get the bare minimum yes. The one with more ranks will have innate mechanical advantage in WvW (e.g. a new player can't lance people on their mount while a 'veteran' can for example). Back in the days of the old forums I recall them saying they wanted the mastery system to create roles, but its execution is just another grindy progression that allows you to assume all such roles if you simply grinded (ground?) more. D: