POLL: The Quest for The Skyscale: The Long and Grindy Road

[Danikat.8537]

4 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

What??  It would have no validity at all.  What's the point, then?

We are not here to conduct sociology experiments or to do Anet's market research for them, so a poll does not have to be scientifically accurate and statistically significant for the entire GW2 playerbase.

As was already explained the point of this poll is to find out how people on the forum feel about this topic, because we keep getting topics complaining about the skyscale but it's not clear if that's because the majority of players here are unhappy with it or because a small but vocal minority keep making the same point over and over.

The previous poll you linked to couldn't do that because the way the answers were written biased them all towards the OP's own opinions, requiring anyone who wanted to participate to agree to clearly untrue statements like "I love grinding boring things 400 times". This one fixes that problem. It does not address the unavoidable fact that only a minority of people who visit the forum are going to vote, but it does not need to because the OP is not claiming it's a definitive survey of the entire player base, only that it's representative of current sentiments among those active on the forum - which it will be because that's who will vote.

[Danikat.8537]

For what it's worth I don't tend to comment on topics complaining about the skyscale collections because the people complaining typically have a very different attitude to me - wanting to get it over and done with as fast as possible, with no interest in the story it's telling. They're often asking about things like the most efficient way to use multiple characters to farm map currencies as fast as possible whereas I deliberately slowed myself down to avoid any risk of burn-out when doing it.

So while I'm aware staying quite adds to the impression that 'no one' likes the collection because the only people who reply are those who didn't like it I don't think me responding would contribute anything else, importantly it wouldn't offer anything constructive to that specific topic. If someone wants to get it done as fast as possible me coming along to say I enjoyed taking my time with it because of the stuff they've already disregarded as unnecessary fluff and detail isn't going to help anyone.

But I did enjoy doing it and seeing the skyscale grow up as I went through it. By contrast I found the turtle mount instantly changing to a bigger version just because I dumped a bunch of food into a merchant jarring and that made me feel less engaged in the process.

I also chose to do it without using a guide as much as possible because one of the things I enjoyed was figuring out the clues and discovering what was coming up as I went along. I did use the Wiki for some help when I got to the sick skyscale and egg collections, because those didn't have proper hints like the scale collection did. But I just read the first line of the Wiki's directions to help narrow it down rather than using the instructions and map to pin-point it straight away. I do the same thing with other collections, like the new Extra-Life one, I've been doing it entirely using the in-game hints and some pointers from other players (like how to start it, because it's hidden in-game until you talk to the NPC).

It takes longer to do it that way, but for me it makes them more fun and avoids that feeling that I'm not really getting to play because I'm just doing what the guide tells me. I know it's not going to work for everyone but if someone does find the idea of blindly following a series of guides one of the things that puts them off getting the skyscale I'd strongly recommend trying it without using a guide.

[Fueki.4753]

It's fine the way it is.

It should be a goal to work towards too.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Fueki.4753

[Dayra.7405]

1 hour ago, Gadzooks.4687 said:

apparently, 70% of the voters already did the grind, and dont want other people to have it any easier.

This of course is pure speculation, as there is no question about that 😉

On the other side: how should anyone who didn't do it completely, judge the effort adequately?
And polls of people currently in it may just reflect their current state of exhaustedness from overdoing it.

1 hour ago, Danikat.8537 said:

this poll is to find out how people on the forum feel about this topic

To me the poll (intermediate-) result looks very similar to the sentinent distribution in the threads complaining about the grindyness of skyscale acquisition. Nothing really new or surprising.

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by Dayra.7405

[Sobx.1758]

1 hour ago, Gadzooks.4687 said:

apparently, 70% of the voters already did the grind, and dont want other people to have it any easier.

That's not it, have another guess.

[kharmin.7683]

Then there is absolutely no reason to make a poll.  The OP could have just reviewed all of the existing threads and understood the general consensus on the topic.  That seems like more of a reason for a forum than some pointless poll.

[costepj.5120]

These polls always end up like employee opinion surveys, in that any responses that don't match the surveyor's opinion are dismissed as irrelevant.
Company: How do you rate your compensation package?
Employees: Inadequate
Company: You are only saying that in the hope of getting a payrise
Employees: Why ask then? 

[SentriX.3209]

It's actually easy...all you do is run around. Check some videos on YT for optimal routes and you can complete each collection in 20-30 mins.

[Silent.6137]

7 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Then there is absolutely no reason to make a poll.  The OP could have just reviewed all of the existing threads and understood the general consensus on the topic.  That seems like more of a reason for a forum than some pointless poll.

Why would I want to spend all the hours to do searches to find relevant threads, and reading through some of them to see if they apply. And then spend countless hours to read and review all the existing threads with thousands of comments? And often with pages upon pages of irrelevancies: two people arguing back and forth about some semantics. To even suggest that is simply ridiculous. A poll can do that in a mere fraction of the time.

If it generate interests, then it's hardly pointless. A pointless poll will be one that no one cares about its issue at all.

[Forum Moderator.3419]

Hello Everyone,

Just a reminder to keep it civil, I've also removed some posts.
If you think someone else has broken the forums rules, please report it to our moderation team rather than calling it out.

Regards.

[Gibson.4036]

1 hour ago, Gadzooks.4687 said:

apparently, 70% of the voters already did the grind, and dont want other people to have it any easier.

That's an assumption.

In other threads we have heard the occassional person who doesn't have the skyscale, but say they don't feel it needs to be changed.

[Hashberry.4510]

2 hours ago, Gibson.4036 said:

In other threads we have heard the occassional person who doesn't have the skyscale, but say they don't feel it needs to be changed.

Waves hi!

[Cuks.8241]

I think its fine. I rarely did collections before Skyscale because I though them to be tedious. Then I did Skyscale and found out it was actually quite fun for me. Got to revisit some old places, like the JPs... I dont like the extensive double item pixel hunt (without wiki) in Dragonfall but in the end I think its fine.

After I did Skyscale I actually did quite a few legendary collections which I didnt feel like tackling before. And those were mostly quite fun also and I ended up with a bunch of legendaries.

[Sobx.1758]

2 hours ago, Gibson.4036 said:

That's an assumption.

In other threads we have heard the occassional person who doesn't have the skyscale, but say they don't feel it needs to be changed.

Yup. But not only that: my opinion about it (similarly to certain other long term optional rewards) didn't change between the time when I didn't go for it yet (or didn't intend to go for it at all) and the current time when I have it. So his assumption that "you're fine with it because you have it" is just false anyways.

[Gibson.4036]

2 hours ago, Cuks.8241 said:

I think its fine. I rarely did collections before Skyscale because I though them to be tedious. Then I did Skyscale and found out it was actually quite fun for me. Got to revisit some old places, like the JPs... I dont like the extensive double item pixel hunt (without wiki) in Dragonfall but in the end I think its fine.

After I did Skyscale I actually did quite a few legendary collections which I didnt feel like tackling before. And those were mostly quite fun also and I ended up with a bunch of legendaries.

This is like my experience. For years I just figured legendaries weren't for more casual players like me. When I came back to the game I did skyscale and enjoyed it. Then the return event came along, and I set out to get the amulet. As much as people call it a "free legendary", it's a journey to complete Seasons of Dragons.

Once I had one legendary, I looked into Vision and Aurora, and saw the general advice was that Vision was the easier of the two. Did it, then went on to knock out Aurora as well. I'm now nine victories away from The Ascenscion and have enough stuff to be within reach of a couple pieces of PvP leggie armor after that.

The collections look huge on the front end, and I expect most people will get burned out if they try to blast through them as quickly as possible. But as a long term goal you work at little by little, they're a fun part of the game.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Gibson.4036

[abc.4918]

I know everyone keeps referring to the "return to" acheivements as a way to make the Skyscale easier to obtain but, god, for those of us that can't stand the story mode stuff (walking talking simulator with poor controls), the "return to" stuff is just another slap. I don't know how difficult (or tedious) getting the "return to" acheivements done but for someone like me it's likely much worse than just grinding out the currencies. [Still haven't finished EOD story since I got those maps unlocked and I play hours most every day.]

[abc.4918]

34 minutes ago, Sobx.1758 said:

You can always wait for dragon bash and get some currency from that. Or exchange currency for ibs one. Or just play the related zones and get it that way. But nah, everything's a slap, apparently even when something is as extremely easy as return to achievements. 🙄

Oh wait, so you just don't know but still complain about it just in case?

Then do it that way. Or don't -that's also an option. EoD stories are irrelevant here btw.

No need to be so aggressive, just stating my opinion that replacing a grind I hate with another grind I hate was not helpful, to me. Hence the "another slap", everything isn't a slap, no need to exaggerate what I said.

I don't know how bad the return-to grind is /exactly/ since I have not done them because I saw they had a lot of story mode stuff in them (as well as other stuff) and, as I stated, I hate story mode stuff. So I was stating my ignorance rather than hiding it. Sorry for the honesty.

And yes, I can't just grind the currencies directly, or I can not, or or. That's what this thread was about. Discussing the options, how we feel about them, and what might be changed. And sure, the EOD comment was probably unneeded, but I wouldn't say irrelevant as it further indicates how much I hate story mode stuff. 🙂

Edit: For another irrelevant comment, I have saved some $$$ on Skyscale skins over the years, haha. I'm one of those that has to get all my mounts matching a theme and stupid stuff like that. I'd hate to see the complete total I'l spent on this game (but would still do it again).

Edited November 8, 2022 by abc.4918
Added ending comment

[Ariurotl.3718]

By now I don't even remember what I had to do in order to get mine. Safe to say I wasn't particularly annoyed by whatever grindiness people are talking about.

[Sobx.1758]

17 minutes ago, abc.4918 said:

No need to be so aggressive, just stating my opinion that replacing a grind I hate with another grind I hate was not helpful, to me. Hence the "another slap", everything isn't a slap, no need to exaggerate what I said.

Which part was "aggressive" there? The thing is you don't know if you don't like it (and it's not really a grind in the first place?) as you've said in your previous post, right? So why do you pre-emptively keep calling it a grind?

17 minutes ago, abc.4918 said:

I don't know how bad the return-to grind is /exactly/ since I have not done them because I saw they had a lot of story mode stuff in them (as well as other stuff) and, as I stated, I hate story mode stuff. So I was stating my ignorance rather than hiding it. Sorry for the honesty.

No need to play a victim now. All it is about is that return to achievements are extremely easy. You can also eaasly skip parts of story -as long as you've played it once- by using violet(?) stars. Meanwhile you don't know what the achievements are, but still come to complain about them just in case and call them the grind, when they're really far from it. What's the point of doing that exactly?

17 minutes ago, abc.4918 said:

And yes, I can't just grind the currencies directly, or I can not, or or. That's what this thread was about. Discussing the options, how we feel about them, and what might be changed.

But you're not "discussing options", you're just calling everything a "grind", even if you don't know what is needed for specific steps/options. But since you want to discuss options: how are return to achievements a grind?

17 minutes ago, abc.4918 said:

And sure, the EOD comment was probably unneeded, but I wouldn't say irrelevant as it further indicates how much I hate story mode stuff. 🙂

From my perspective EoD story is so irrelevant here that you could literally not have EoD expansion at all and it still wouldn't change a single thing about skyscale or its acquisition 😉

Edited November 8, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[Nidome.1365]

They have already nerfed this collection once to make it quicker by dramatically reducing the time gates. It doesn't need nerfing again.

[abc.4918]

7 minutes ago, Sobx.1758 said:

But you're not "discussing options",

Fair enough, I said what I wanted to say. Enjoy your the rest of your day.

[Sobx.1758]

Just now, abc.4918 said:

Fair enough, I said what I wanted to say. Enjoy your the rest of your day.

Yup, you too.

[Gibson.4036]

12 hours ago, abc.4918 said:

I know everyone keeps referring to the "return to" acheivements as a way to make the Skyscale easier to obtain but, god, for those of us that can't stand the story mode stuff (walking talking simulator with poor controls), the "return to" stuff is just another slap. I don't know how difficult (or tedious) getting the "return to" acheivements done but for someone like me it's likely much worse than just grinding out the currencies. [Still haven't finished EOD story since I got those maps unlocked and I play hours most every day.]

Worth taking a look at just to see. You only have to get to tier three, so you can avoid the story chapters and do things like the gathering, champs, and metas that are on the lists.

[Danikat.8537]

13 hours ago, Gibson.4036 said:

This is like my experience. For years I just figured legendaries weren't for more casual players like me. When I came back to the game I did skyscale and enjoyed it. Then the return event came along, and I set out to get the amulet. As much as people call it a "free legendary", it's a journey to complete Seasons of Dragons.

Once I had one legendary, I looked into Vision and Aurora, and saw the general advice was that Vision was the easier of the two. Did it, then went on to knock out Aurora as well. I'm now nine victories away from The Ascenscion and have enough stuff to be within reach of a couple pieces of PvP leggie armor after that.

The collections look huge on the front end, and I expect most people will get burned out if they try to blast through them as quickly as possible. But as a long term goal you work at little by little, they're a fun part of the game.

I agree. I've made the Fractal legendary backpack and 5 weapons using a variety of methods and by far my least favourite was the one which was technically quickest. If you count it from when I bought the first recipe to start crafting the precursor it took me 2 weeks to make Exordium, because I already had the map completion gifts and Gift of Battle, and enough materials, gold and things I could sell for materials that I could get everything else relatively quickly. The only thing I had to go out of my way to get was crystalline ore and even then it only took me a few runs through Dragon's Stand because I had about 1/2 of what I needed already.

The fact that I could go through it quickly meant I spent more time on it in each session than I otherwise would have done, a lot of it felt repetitive, and even though it was only a couple of weeks by the time I was done with all the steps I was glad it was over. If I'd tried to burn through it like that when I needed to go out and gather all the stuff, complete maps etc. I don't think I'd have gotten it done.

The others took me a lot longer (between 6 and 13 months each) but I enjoyed them a lot more because I was taking my time with it, doing parts as and when I felt like it with no feeling that I had to hurry up and get it done. In the middle of the Ad Infinitum collection I stopped doing Fractals completely for a few weeks when Wintersday happened and then again when EoD came out.

It was the same with the skyscale. I really wanted it because I love dragons but I deliberately made myself slow down on the parts I knew I'd burn out on if I tried to rush it. For example I set myself a maximum of 50 map currency per day. I'd go to a map I needed more currency for, start gathering it from nodes, do events as I came across them and when I got to 50 I'd stop collecting it. If I was in the middle of an event chain or something else I wanted to do for other reasons I'd carry on, but if I was still just trying to get the currency I'd stop and do something else. It meant it took longer than it could have, but also meant when I got to the end I was excited to keep playing and use my new skyscale rather than just glad it was over.

[Sentrasia.7428]

Honestly, for a purely optional mount (super useful and convenient but by no means means required) I think it's fine as is. 

 

Took me less than a month to complete it once I had LWS4 complete. I just followed the guide on wiki. Think it was maybe a couple weeks to finish. I did already have the charged crystals though.

 

-With the return to achievements the saddle currency is very easy to get. Just do the zones as they come up as dalies.

-Some of the JP's can be skipped with the use of the springer and the the yeet ability.

-The Anomaly in Vabbi can be slow if you don't have a lot of people, but it can be solo'd. Generally at least get a few people helping if you ask in chat (Did it with 3 people when I did mine).

-Djinn in Vabbi can be a pain if you have to wait for them to despawn (so you can hail them instead) if you can't kill them.

 

I don't really recall any other hurdles. Lots of running around but while that takes time it's not really challenging. Could be totally -forgetting stuff though. It's probably been ~year since I did it.

 

I think it would be nice if they removed the time gating but, eh, 4 days (which is the minimum if I recall) isn't that bad.