Make skyscales mandatory

[nutri.1385]

I don't support making the skyscale easier to get. The challenge is really low - you just need a bit of time and thinking (e.g. to check all the easy ways to obtain the currencies) and in comparison to legendary weapons it's nothing. I hardy see anyone not having this mount when I play - I suspect it is more common to not have the beetle, than the skyscale.

 

Plus, the questline is amazing, diverse and enjoyable. Grinding is only a part of it! Hats off for the authors. ❤️

 

[Alarm.7286]

17 hours ago, Sobx.1758 said:

Like which ones? DRMs scale with player number, they are soloable.

Yes, but I am talking about DRM achievements to grind for the mastery points.

take example of "Friendly Fire" or "No More Sacrifices", those are soloable?! tell me which class & build to do that?

Also I was crazy enough to try soloing "Cold War" for "Morale Breaker" grind achievement, just to end up with timeout fights.

Adding time limit for those make them un-soloable strike mission.

[Smiles.1740]

It only took me 4 days. I started on it when Ice Brood came out at the time the exchange was 10 eternal ice + karma for the S4 currency exchange. Also if you make Skyscale "mandatory" everyone that plays the game would have to buy PoF to play the game. 

[Gehenna.3625]

4 hours ago, Eraden.8740 said:

The ONLY location that I can think of where the skyscale is clearly at an advantage over all of the other mounts is Dragonfall. Not surprising as it is the location where you start your skyscale quest. Everywhere else, there is at least one or two mounts that can do as well if not better than a skyscale at getting around. I don't even count Verdant Brink as such a location as a combination of bunny, gliding and just plain knowing how the zone works, will get you the same or better results.

The skyscale can do some things the springer can't when it comes to climbing heights, because it can get stuck to vertical walls and then regenerate some energy. It also flies and can hang in the sky, allowing you to grab a cup of coffee 😉 . It cannot hover over water (or under water) very long and you can't use the jackal portals and you can't use the speed of the griffon or beetle. So it's a little bit of a jack-of-all trades. 

 

So people who have the skyscale use it a lot because you don't have to switch mounts all the time which is an annoyance, so it's more of a convenience item than a necessary item but that does give it an advantage in many places. Particularly in HoT maps where it's versatility is most welcome. 

 

Personally I use the skyscale most of the time, but I do use the beetle to get from one side of the map to the other side fast and the skimmer for on or under the water. All the other mounts I use just occasionally.

[genjonah.1253]

7 hours ago, mythical.6315 said:

The most was 50G?  That’s about 25 days of spending five minutes of doing dailies. That’s about 2-3 hours of farming. If it took you months to earn 50G then you really weren’t doing anything in the game. 

You can get that in less than a month literally only doing Tequatl at reset and logging off 

[zealex.9410]

17 hours ago, babak.3654 said:

I'm doing the Skyscale collection at the moment and have got as far as Troublesome Skyscales. It's a long series of collections but I'm working on it in the downtime between "Return to" instalments (which also reward the needed stack of each LS4 mat) or other activities. Done that way it's been ok. I don't think the collection itself is excessive as currently implemented.

 

I'm going to disagree that there aren't any issues, though. I have every other mount (including Griffon and Beetle) but still find myself left a long way behind on some meta events. It must be frustrating for newer players, and will become worse over time as more and more established players get around to unlocking the Skyscale mount. It's also gated behind the Living Story 4 episodes, which not everyone will have access to going forward, unless Arenanet chooses to roll them into the core game at some point as they did with Heart of Thorns.

Tbf ive been doing most metas up to se4 for the return to lw achieves and the one that really incentivises skyscale so far is the dragonfall one the rest you are fine with raptor or griffon.  Thb skyscale bow is much more acessible than the griffon.

[mythical.6315]

1 hour ago, genjonah.1253 said:

You can get that in less than a month literally only doing Tequatl at reset and logging off 

Exactly. There are so many ways in the game to make that much and especially ways to make it passively. This is why I believe that they either barely play the game at all (in order to not make that much) or they’re being disingenuous in their claim. 

[galuf.5741]

Yes Skyscale farm is extremly long and tedious and it is expensive, however you kind of really want this mount and it is ultimately achievable. You are not tied to do skyscale content all at once either. I consider myself pretty bad at focusing on objectives in GW2(doing several things at once and losing myself constantly) but I got it.

The arsh reality about Skyscale is that it is getting less and less relevant in the game. I did not had skyscale when I started icebrood content. I think that if you know the map very well and have few heart of thorn masteries you dont even really need mounts either, and for convenience raptor/springer combo is way enough to full complete maps and be on time in trains.

In next expansion ANet will have to make something that feel enticing for newer players. Nothing will be TOO expensive gold wise, there will be probably easy/cringy catchup mechanisms and the expansion maps will probably end up confortably navigated with just the expansion mastery and it is very possible that we get something that is like Skyscale but better directly in the expansion or in LW5.

Edited September 23, 2021 by galuf.5741

[ThaKrulll.4150]

People on this forum sometimes have some weird takes. But this one sure takes the cake.

 

First of all, I don't think you know what mandatory means.

 

Second of all. How it it a grind? It is a somewhat longish collection with clear steps what to do. Use a guide if you can't figure it out yourself. They removed the long time-gates. It used to be what? 22days or something? Now it is 3. And you can do it in 3 days if you have the currencies. And that brings up another point, The only thing that could be considered a grind in the past was the currencies but then they introduced the the eternal ice converter and you could get 1 maps worth of currency each day easily. But then even that was made easier to get. Each of the living world return achievements gives you a full stack of that maps currency. And it takes like 2 hour per map. It is basically a free mount at this point. Not sure how they can make it even easier to get.

 

There is no required grinds in this game. There is not even gear progression. Are you really telling me that when the game asks you to put in barely an ounce of effort you have to run to the forum and complain about it?

[kharmin.7683]

19 minutes ago, ThaKrulll.4150 said:

There is no required grinds in this game. There is not even gear progression. Are you really telling me that when the game asks you to put in barely an ounce of effort you have to run to the forum and complain about it?

I think you may have figured out the OP.

[JohnWater.5760]

On 9/21/2021 at 7:17 PM, Mortifera.6138 said:

Stopped reading at: "it only took me a few weeks".

 

That is an insane grind.

It took me almost a year.

I can't play everyday, like others

[JohnWater.5760]

4 hours ago, galuf.5741 said:

Yes Skyscale farm is extremly long and tedious and it is expensive, however you kind of really want this mount and it is ultimately achievable.

Griffon is expensive.

There is no comparison

[Eraden.8740]

Griffon is pricey but it's not out of reach of most players. I am a casual player and I have both a griffon and a skyscale.

[IndigoSundown.5419]

On 9/21/2021 at 3:45 PM, Mortifera.6138 said:

Jesus Christ... even WoW's grind wasn't this bad.

That is some serious underestimation of the grind in any gear treadmill MMO.  It took multiple months of weekly raids in WotLK to gear up your raid group for the next tier of raids.  The only optional part of that was that you could not raid.  If you did want to, you needed that gear or the next raid would stomp you.

 

The truth is (and this really is the truth) that MMO's are about balancing the developer's and many players' needs for the game to have long-term goals with the short-term expectations of other players.  It's unfortunate when players with short-term expectations decide they have to have one of the things which are obtained via longer-term play.

 

It took me about a week or so to get the Skyscale.  Some of that was waiting for the time gate.  The rest was that I don't play for lengthy periods.  A two hour play session leaves me wanting to log and do something else for a while.  If I stretch that to three hours, I usually won't log back in until the next day.  It helped that I waited quite a while after Season 4 to start, and was able to get a lot of the materials via Eternal Ice and Karma, both of which I had to burn.  So, I don't really see getting the Skyscale as more than a medium-length goal.  What I will grant is that it is a longer-term goal than a lot of what GW2 offers.  I spent longer getting the Ascended Weapon Collections in both HoT and PoF -- both of which I also did around the same time I got the Skyscale and the Griffon.

 

It seems to me that gaining the Skyscale is, at worst, a medium length goal as MMO's go.  Don't believe me?  Go play some other MMO's and look at what a real long-term goal looks like.

[Astralporing.1957]

On 9/22/2021 at 12:17 AM, Mortifera.6138 said:

Stopped reading at: "it only took me a few weeks".

 

That is an insane grind.

Timegate is not the same as grind. The most grindy part for skyscale is getting enough map currencies (but then nowadays all you have to do to get them is to go through the "return to" metaevent, as it throws a lot of those at you at the intermediate steps of the corresponding LS achieves).

[Gehenna.3625]

3 hours ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Timegate is not the same as grind. The most grindy part for skyscale is getting enough map currencies (but then nowadays all you have to do to get them is to go through the "return to" metaevent, as it throws a lot of those at you at the intermediate steps of the corresponding LS achieves).

And that's just one of the rewards you get for doing the return chapters.

[Bingus.4236]

I know this a troll thread and that but for info for people looking, I've been doing the achievements this week and have done the first three big achievements.  These times are likely far from the quickest you could do and they will involve procrastinating off and doing other things occasionally. As I said in the previous videos, I followed commontate guides on youtube for the treasure hunts.

 

Newborn Skyscales: I spent about 2 to 3 hours round dragonfall doing the treasure hunts. None of them were really difficult, there were times you have to get up on Kralks wing, that's about the only annoying part other than the usual dragonfall mobs tagging you everywhere.

 

Saving Skyscales: I approximate I spent about 6 to 7 hours doing this. Did it over Sunday afternoon and evening.The one thing I found difficult was the top of the wall in Blazeridge Steppes, the springer is a PITA to leap in a specific direction and that skid on landing is reeeeee.

 

Raising Skyscales: I already had the charged quartz and grow lamp recipes so the time gating and dry top playing was done long ago. So this was less than hour for me.

 

Troublesome Skyscales: About 3 hours. I am not a fan of jumping puzzles by a long chalk but this wasn't too bad. I skipped Coemm's lab because that looked the longest one to do. The prototype position rewinder you get from sandswept isles made this a lot nicer, especially the one Timberline Falls with the balls.  I didn't make skip any more with the pungent treats but in hindight, I wish I'd skipped the branded anomaly one in Vabbi. It's not a difficult fight per but the kitten thing has an insanely high health pool so took something like 20 minutes to wear down. Also, it reflects ranged big style and I'd wish I'd taken my scourge instead of engi because of that. The other bad part of it is the boss routinely goes half in the wall and as the fight is in the middle of a brandstorm it's absolutely dreadful for the eyes.  This is probably easy with a group, I did it partly on my own and then with a player that came along halfway through.

 

I've on the Saddle part left. I already had half the currency from playing Strikes and converting eternal ice shards when I was playing them to get ascended armour but they give away the whole amount for the return to achievements as mentioned before, so they are as good as free. The other part is flying the skyscale about which is surely the whole point of getting it so hardly much "grind" there.

[Gibson.4036]

2 hours ago, Bingus.4236 said:

 

Saving Skyscales: I approximate I spent about 6 to 7 hours doing this. Did it over Sunday afternoon and evening.The one thing I found difficult was the top of the wall in Blazeridge Steppes, the springer is a PITA to leap in a specific direction and that skid on landing is reeeeee.

 

That pillar! 

It could be so frustrating if you don't laugh at it. When I did that one there just happened to be two other people trying it. We all spent a long time trying to land that jump, each one falling and laughing about it in chat.

It was such a relief when it was done. And a good memory.

[Aria Lliane.8693]

I've only grinded it for like 1 or 2 months until I gave up.

I actually quit on the part where you need to craft a quartz each day to make food.

Doing the skyscle felt like I was playing farmvile, and I dont like that type of game. If anything, this quest only made me hate the skyscale.

It has been 1 year since then and I never went back... I think that by now my baby Skyscale starved to death on that sunspear cave asking for food... RIP baby Skyscale.

(just like how tomatoes rotten in farmvile if you dont water them, they could make an update where if you leave him more than a year without food you will only find his bones lol)

If something feels like a chore, then you are not having fun.

To the guy saying "only took me 3 weeks casually" or something like that, there was a time when my "casual" was playing all day. that was 12 years ago, in GW1, when I was in university. Now I have a job and playing 2 hours a day is Hard Core gaming.

Casual gaming is playing on the weekends for a few hours or on the toilet on your mobile games.

Ok, jokes aside, some day I might finish it....

Edited September 24, 2021 by Aria Lliane.8693

[eyelogix.1654]

On 9/22/2021 at 12:45 AM, Mortifera.6138 said:

Jesus Christ... even WoW's grind wasn't this bad.

that's a lie.. you can farm a raid for weeks and never see your item drop that's BiS. 🙄

[Gibson.4036]

34 minutes ago, Aria Lliane.8693 said:

 

I actually quit on the part where you need to craft a quartz each day to make food.

 

That's funny. Doing the skyscale lead me to one of the only ways I actually make decent gold in game. I have two alts parked at the crystal node in Crystal Oasis, and one crafting mule outside my home instance in Rata Sum. Pretty much the only farmy thing I do in game is to log through those three characters to create a charged crystal whenever I play.

Takes a couple of minutes, and earns a couple of gold/day. Way faster than even running daily completionist.

[Jaysh.9523]

On 9/22/2021 at 12:45 AM, Mortifera.6138 said:

Jesus Christ... even WoW's grind wasn't this bad.

u can get it in 4 days lol right now with bjora is so easy to get skyscale i don't get why someone complain about not being able to just have everything day 1 without any investing would u find it fun if anet gave u the game with all already done before playing? 

Edited September 24, 2021 by Jaysh.9523

[miraude.2107]

Skyscale a grind? A GRIND?

 

Naw, the Nascent Indrik mount in ESO is an actual bonafide grind that isn't luck of the RNG like WoW's mounts.

You have to wait an ENTIRE YEAR to get this mount because it's tied to getting items from all the seasonal events.

So let's put that in perspective here. Skyscale takes 3 days + 8 hours. That not just numbers I'm pulling out of my behind either. That's from the wiki. That's it's current formula. Now if you want a grind, let's do this with the Indrik formula and create a real grind. You would need:

•  An account bound item from Lunar New Year Festival that will probably use the new celestial tokens.
• An account bound item from Super Adventure Box that would probably use baubles and gold
• An account bound item from Dragon Bash that will probably make a new account bound currency to work for this.
• An account bound item from Festival of the Four Winds and like Dragon Bash, prolly be a new currency to work.
• An account bound item from Halloween.
• An account bound item from Wintersday.

Then, THEN would you be able to get the skyscale as now you have all the items, you would use a recipe to combine them all into something like Gift of the Skyscale, which you would then toss into the mystic toilet with Gift of the Rider (cause duh it's a mount), 250 Mistborn Motes and 250 Globs of Ectoplasm. There's your Skyscale. There's your real grind that isn't 3 days long.

 

Overall, reading this and your subsequent replies to everyone. We get it. You want it and you want it now, Veruca Salt. However it is a THREE DAY GRIND. You posted this Tuesday. It is Friday. In this time frame, you could have gotten the mount by now?

[Kraggy.4169]

On 9/21/2021 at 11:16 PM, Eraden.8740 said:

While I must admit that acquiring my skyscale was somewhat grindy, it did not require trading my soul to get one. Additionally, it only took me a few weeks to acquire one at a casual pace. On top of all of that, there were parts of the quest chain, like playing with my skyscale, that were absolutely a treat to do. I personally think the quest chain is fine as it is. Having a skyscale is definitely a QoL bonus but it is by no means mandatory to complete most content in the game.

Except that in one of the EoD vids ANet seemed to imply to me that Skyscales will be REQUIRED to navigate the new zones.

[Kraggy.4169]

9 minutes ago, miraude.2107 said:

However it is a THREE DAY GRIND. You posted this Tuesday. It is Friday. In this time frame, you could have gotten the mount by now?

Actually no, it isn't and never was .. that time is simply the addition of all the fatuous time-gates ANet put in to drag it out .. only no-lifers who can play 24/7 to activate the next step after the numerous 2-hour time-gates could do it in that time ...

.. AND given the numerous world group events you HAVE to do it'll take longer now than when the content was current due to less players still needing to do one.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Kraggy.4169