Skyscale collection

[Trepidation Lost.3469]

Rant alert:

How is this a thing. 
Just completed the find all eggs collection…

run around the same map and go to the same places 100 times( almost literaly) in a row ? 

Now I have a 2 hour cooldown before starting what looks like more of the same yet now it requires even more event spamming to unlock water infusions ?! 
who made this collection?!
Did they think it would be fun?!

id understand it if it required some skill or somthing but brainless running around the exact same spots on the same map for hours on end.

most torturous content I’ve done so far. 
and I’ve farmed 10+ legendaries.

 

it’s not even like it’s for aesthetic or anything either, it’s pretty essential to moving around metas and keeping up with commanders.

[Waffler.1257]

I've been working on the skyscale collections for over 2 years now, I think I might be close to finished but I'm not sure.

[ArchonWing.9480]

The first 3 collections are probably the most boring and the worst part of the collection. It does get better for you.

It's not essential at all though. Not even the fastest mount.  The best use of it is to afk high up above tbh.

Edited December 6, 2021 by ArchonWing.9480

[Gibson.4036]

Gw2TacO is super helpful for the running around Dragonfall parts.

[Vayne.8563]

I've made the skyscale on 9 different accounts. The first 3 collections (scales, eggs, sick skyscales) are the most annoying part to me. But it's not as bad as you're making it out to be either.

The skyscale is an end of Season 4 reward and it's somewhat overtuned.  Because I didn't just grind out a Skyscale, I was playing the zone, it wasn't nearly as bad for me.

[Tachenon.5270]

I've done it on both my accounts. Won't ever do anything like that again. Wouldn't have done it the second time, if I'd had the good sense to do it on my main account first. Life's too short and I'm too old for that 'boring grind to get to the fun stuff' nonsense.

[Handsel.2891]

I don't know... The griffon was more trouble for me, what with all the high cost of stuff and everything... I enjoyed that one, too. I got a mount at the end.

Congrats on the 10+ legendaries, though. Must have been a breeze compared to the Skyscale...

 

[Tyncale.1629]

8 hours ago, Vayne.8563 said:

I've made the skyscale on 9 different accounts. The first 3 collections (scales, eggs, sick skyscales) are the most annoying part to me. But it's not as bad as you're making it out to be either.

The skyscale is an end of Season 4 reward and it's somewhat overtuned.  Because I didn't just grind out a Skyscale, I was playing the zone, it wasn't nearly as bad for me.

This. I have 7 skyscales on different accounts and I welcome it because it is an incentive for me to play the game. I like doing events, I like going around maps and I think  it is fun to reach all those high up places with your rental Skyscale to get the eggs, scales and what not.  And it is actually a pretty fast mount when you use Dash and Bond of Vigor to the max.  It is also great for farming Airship cargos and other map currencies, since it will get you everywhere in a very convenient way, especially the newer maps in HoT and PoF. Also great for avoiding aggro and hovering in the air in peace. 🙂 

[Parasite.5389]

I really don't know what the big deal is;

I came back to the game after a fairly long break just in time for War Eternal, played through the episode and unlocked those initial collections in Dragonfall, but I was stuck because I hadn't played anything else in Season 4 and hadn't unlocked Sun's Refuge.

Jump forward to now and the Return to Living world event, I started playing through all the episodes I'd missed, finally got through the story to the point Sun's Refuge unlocks in Jahai Bluffs and I can finally talk to Gorrik about carrying on this the collection I'd left on hold for nearly 2 years

I had my Skyscale by the time we'd finished Thunderhead peak the following week.

Edited December 6, 2021 by Parasite.5389

[Borked.6824]

I'm sure there's not a single person who went through the chain that hadn't thought the same.  There is some unprecedented levels of tedium in there, but once you've got it completed, you will understand the value of your time and the reward given.  Try forgetting that you're sacrificing your time for other things, and immerse yourself in the context of the quest.  It's actually really really well done.

[Trepidation Lost.3469]

45 minutes ago, Borked.6824 said:

I'm sure there's not a single person who went through the chain that hadn't thought the same.  There is some unprecedented levels of tedium in there, but once you've got it completed, you will understand the value of your time and the reward given.  Try forgetting that you're sacrificing your time for other things, and immerse yourself in the context of the quest.  It's actually really really well done.

I will never agree that ‘run to arbitrary points on the map 100 times’ being ‘well done’ 🤷🏽‍♂️

[Handsel.2891]

1 hour ago, Trepidation Lost.3469 said:

I will never agree that ‘run to arbitrary points on the map 100 times’ being ‘well done’ 🤷🏽‍♂️

How does it compare to running to an insane amount of gathering nodes while farming for mats to craft legendaries?

Edit: what's confusing about the question?

Edited December 6, 2021 by MikeG.6389

[PeterRedhill.3182]

It's one of the more annoying things to do.  I did mine inside of a month with a week or two break in between.  My bigger gripe with it is it should've been on the same level and scale as the griffon mount requiring those 6 maps and not the old world and world bosses.  Because that was the stuff that was crap.  Don't get me wrong the griffon mount has it's annoying parts like liberating the starting village in the desert highlands about 10 times before the event you need starts only to have it fail because the npc ai is laughable, but having to globetrott to get it done is just annoying and not fun.  I actually enjoyed all but one of the tasks for Griffon and the Skyscale never stopped annoying me. 

It's a lot more manageable to do each zone with the griffon.  You do one and move onto the next.  While the skyscale just keeps sending you on wild goose chases.

But that's my rant on it.

Edited December 6, 2021 by PMoneyMobileRobot.4630

[ArchonWing.9480]

Ok, so when did I start on Skyscale? About late September, since I made this thread:

 

Now the eggs and stuff sucked. I could only do a few per session and then i stopped at collection 3 for like a month because I didn't want any of this crap. I don't (and still don't) have Griffon since I never finished PoF story.

Came back and did it in a few days.

In the meantime though I had to open up Sun's Refuge which took a bit. I also crafted some Quartz Crystals and gained some LS4 currency.

The next part, Saving Skyscales took another few days. There the worst part was the rune locked doors thanks to the continuous respawns. The Acrophobia collection point was hard, though I got help there. I didn't really try it, but I imagine it would have taken quite a bit of time.

Then there was the part you had to get treats by killing random enemies. That took a few hours; it was pretty bleh, but not the worst.

Raising Skyscales was pretty easy because I had already crafted Charged Quartz. That took 4 days to feed the Skyscale, and the mini-games were pretty good.

Skyscale Lost was pretty easily done , but I cheated with 8 Skyscale Treats (incidentally I bought 10-- sold some back for a profit). Bunny can cheese some JPs. 40 gold is fine, especially since I can't jump for crap.

Riding Skyscales was annoying; it wasn't hard but after all the other crap, it seems like busy work.  That took about 2 days.

But yea, the 3 initial collections were the worst, and the later half wasn't too hard, but due to my relatively slow speed, I had already gathered enough mats to make the rest easy. So going slower helps in my case.

Granted I mostly WvW (so any mount is irrelevant for me), so I can get map currencies from Reward Tracks. But actually doing the maps gives a lot more anyways and return makes this not a problem.

Edited December 6, 2021 by ArchonWing.9480

[Gibson.4036]

4 hours ago, Trepidation Lost.3469 said:

I will never agree that ‘run to arbitrary points on the map 100 times’ being ‘well done’ 🤷🏽‍♂️

21 Scales + 14 medicine + 21 eggs = 56 spots =/= 100

What do you mean by "water infusion"? Is this the "Skyscale of Water" collection? Cause there's a lot more of those "Skyscale of X" in store for you. These will take you through a bunch of other zones, though, so you don't have to worry about "arbitraty points" around Dragonfall any more.

Since you seem to be surprised by the requirements, you might want to check out https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skyscale/Walkthrough to see if it causes you too much trepidation.

I wonder if people's loathing of the Skyscale chain is directly related to how quickly they try to push through it. I'd suggest not taking "Waiting for Gorrik" as a 2 hour cooldown, but instead letting it be at least 24 hour. Take it as a cue to go do something else, and come back to your skyscale pursuit next time you play.

Edited December 6, 2021 by Gibson.4036

[Twilightzone.7452]

TBH the skyscale is the most useless mount as all it is good for is AP farming and I guess gliding but flying, no
Congrats on the AP and I guess AFK flapping

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Twilightzone.7452

[Faridah.8431]

On 12/5/2021 at 8:37 PM, ArchonWing.9480 said:

The first 3 collections are probably the most boring and the worst part of the collection. It does get better for you.

It's not essential at all though. Not even the fastest mount.  The best use of it is to afk high up above tbh.

While I agree in principle, I played this account in story order and it was extremely difficult to keep up with some HoT HP trains, especially in Tangled Depths prior to getting skyscale.

[ArchonWing.9480]

2 hours ago, Faridah.8431 said:

While I agree in principle, I played this account in story order and it was extremely difficult to keep up with some HoT HP trains, especially in Tangled Depths prior to getting skyscale.

Did rhem before mounts even existed, so don't see the problem.  I have probably followed a grand total of like 2 HP trains ever. The area was designed before mounts and any mount makes it much easier.

There's way more than enough hero points to get both specs and Tangled Depths would be my last choice for a HP run.

Edited December 8, 2021 by ArchonWing.9480

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Its because you want it right now instead of doing it over time as intended. It was meant as a Legendary-quality mount and even more or less can replace every other mount except the Roller Beetle.

 

As far as convenience goes, its the ultimate mount (although not always the most efficient) and we're lucky they added it to the game at all given how much content it trivialises. Wait until you see what map completion is like with Skyscale--its possible to complete stuff like LS3 maps in minutes instead of hours.

 

That's not even counting that its a free AFK tool.

 

Did you know that originally you had wait even longer for it? The timegate called for real time days, but it was later reduced to Tyrian days due to complaints from impatient players who didn't want to wait.

 

Btw I've made quite a few Legendaries and the precursor quests were just as bad, if not worse.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Hannelore.8153

[Mungrul.9358]

On 12/6/2021 at 12:49 PM, Tyncale.1629 said:

I have 7 skyscales on different accounts and I welcome it because it is an incentive for me to play the game.

 

On 12/6/2021 at 3:48 AM, Vayne.8563 said:

I've made the skyscale on 9 different accounts.

 

😳

Uh, you guys do know that there are other games out there?

If you're at the point where you're repeating content in order to give yourself an incentive to play a game, maybe, just maybe, take a break and play something else for a while?

Edited December 8, 2021 by Mungrul.9358

[costepj.5120]

10 minutes ago, Mungrul.9358 said:

Uh, you guys do know that there are other games out there?

That's crazy talk.
I have 14000 hours in game and still only scratched the surface. So many things left on my todo list.

[Vayne.8563]

1 hour ago, Mungrul.9358 said:

 

 

😳

Uh, you guys do know that there are other games out there?

If you're at the point where you're repeating content in order to give yourself an incentive to play a game, maybe, just maybe, take a break and play something else for a while?

Thanks for the advice, mate. I appreciate you taking so much concern about what I do with my time and life.

I don't have multiple accounts because I have nothing to do in game or out of game. You're simply making assumptions.

I have the accounts, because I like helping other people in my guild with stuff and it's easier doing it where I can see what they're actually going for.  A lot of people in my guild are older and I enjoy hanging out with them. So on my 9th account, I was helping a 75 year old guy get his skyscale.

 

I'm retired. My wife plays.  We also stream tv series, I watch wrestling (I know, I know) and I listen to audiobooks. And I've had my fill of other games as well, considering I spent 19 years of my life working on a computer store. I've played thousands of games. I'm more here for the social contact than I am for the game.  I like the people I play with.

I don't have a problem with how much time I spend in this game, not sure why anyone else should.

[Neva Eilhart.5347]

It's funny to see how some collections are a pain to some players while being a great experience for others. I've loved every bit of the Skyscale collection, and I as a player usually don't like collections as a system (I find it boring and tedious to track every step and I hate when the game pushes me into using third party guides to make decent progress). Yet the Skyscale being related to season 4 had me to replay some of the best maps overall of the game in my opinion, so it made it way easier to complete. The overall great quality of season 4 meta events did help in that regard.

 

I have not so good memories of the Griffon collection in comparison because I found it to be way harder. Finding your way in PoF maps where you have environmental hazards as well as hard hitting mobs everytime you go to secluded areas was definitely not that enjoyable, especially when you're not able to fly over danger.

 

As for the Skyscale, I wonder how mileage may be varying depending on whether or not you have unlocked the griffon first when you start it.

 

But I'd still recommend every player to do the Skyscale collection. If there's one collection you need to do, even if it's not fun for you, it's this one. Just because the Skyscale enables you to drift peacefully across the maps without worrying about getting into fights. It opens up a more leisured way to enjoy the game and its beautiful sceneries and locations, which is a blast when doing full completion of a new map. Moreover, thanks to the Skyscale, I'm able to handpick which events I really want to engage in. I fly over the ones I don't like/want to do.

 

[ArchonWing.9480]

2 hours ago, Mungrul.9358 said:

 

 

😳

Uh, you guys do know that there are other games out there?

If you're at the point where you're repeating content in order to give yourself an incentive to play a game, maybe, just maybe, take a break and play something else for a while?

I mean, they clearly enjoyed what they were doing; doubt they need your advice on how to have fun lol.

Edited December 8, 2021 by ArchonWing.9480

[Tyncale.1629]

2 hours ago, Mungrul.9358 said:

 

 

😳

Uh, you guys do know that there are other games out there?

If you're at the point where you're repeating content in order to give yourself an incentive to play a game, maybe, just maybe, take a break and play something else for a while?

I tried. 🙂 Fired up SWtoR again, Teso, Black Desert, even re-installed Everquest, my old mmo favorite that I played for 13 years, but GW2 is now the best.   The ALt accounts are also for the gold that the Daily Login brings, I will not fool anyone about that, but I play them a lot also. They all have between 1 and 3k AP, between 50 and 130 Mastery points and large parts of their story done. They all have at least their 4 base mounts, and I am working on Beetles and Skyscales for them too. One even got his Griffon because a keyrunner won that ugly Pegasus unicorn mount. 🙂  I like doing those Mount quests, redoing PoF and HoT maps and their Heropoints and earning the Elite Skills on the main character. I like playing in the Open World and with one of my Alt accounts I still get rewards along the way like finishing Mastery Tracks, getting AP and completing maps and such. 

 

There is still stuff to do on my Main account off course but all of what is left means a hard boring grind for very few AP(or skins that I do not care about) or doing stuff I do not like, like PvP and WvW. 

 

For those who wonder: if you buy an account for 15 dollars/euro (like you can do now) you can recoup your money in 8 months of *just* the daily login(Laurels, Mystic Coins and some mats/exotics). If you do more with them (like making Charged Quartz crystals with them and/or parking Alts at a rich Quartz Node you recoup faster. For this purpose all of my Alt accounts also have some mastercrafters, that quickly recouped their crafting training costs through selling Stuff like Skycale Food, Celestial Armor, Pungent food and so forth.  This off course needs some daily action but I actually like doing that. The alternative is to go chase some skin I do not want for which I have to do DRM's (eew!) on my Main account. 

Oh, and ArchonWing is right, this is a great way for me to keep enjoying GW2. 

Edited December 8, 2021 by Tyncale.1629